Window of Knowledge
by fanfictionlover101
Summary: Mary introduces herself to some of Sam's college friends in heaven, and they all sit down to watch the season one. Mild spoilers up to season 5 I think - nothing major. Warning: there is some mild swearing as they react to things.
1. The Meet and Greet

**A/N: There aren't any character watches the story fics for Supernatural yet (or I'm not looking in the right place, the right way, someone help me!) so I thought I would kind of do one. I just wanted to think about how Sam's college friends would react if they knew what really happened in the pilot, when Jess died.**

**The story definitely takes place after the first episode. Mild spoilers up to season 5?: we know that Lucifer had demons in many of Sam's friends, so I'm assuming that most of them died. But everyone remembers what their college years were like and they all remember Sam.**

**This chapter is when everyone comes together. The second, much longer chapter, is the episode. Jess, and Brady are watching and then some other names are just going to be thrown in.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Or I would know a lot more than I do.**

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Mary looked around her, sighing. She really was happy, she was. After all, she was in heaven. It was beautiful up here, and she was able to relive her happiest moments in her life, and be with the people she loved most, in the places that were very dear to her.

She was also able to do something that no other soul could – watch the humans on Earth. It was a gift from the angels, for giving birth to the two vessels, the most important humans on the planet. It hurt like hell when she found out what they were destined for. Her precious Dean who, by the time she died, was already growing up so quickly. And her Sam, her baby. She hadn't even had a chance to be a mother. She hadn't been able to take them to school, or do homework with them. She hadn't been able to go to baseball games to cheer them on. She didn't even get a chance to ground them for going out drinking underage.

Mary also felt extraordinarily guilty, because she now understood why Dean had told her not to get out of bed that night. She couldn't understand at the time. What could possibly happen? She had given up hunting, for good. She hadn't been bothered by anything in years. And her baby had been fussing. She had to make sure he was okay. When she had gone back into the bedroom, she had recognized the Yellow-Eyed Demon right away. And she had understood how royally she had messed up. Dean telling her not to get up tonight should have been her first clue. The fact that it was ten years since she had met with the demon and made her deal should have been her second clue. Then of course, there was the light in the hallway. Lights don't just flicker, and she should've known that. All those years of hunting with her father and she hadn't even recognized the signs.

She hadn't made it to heaven until she had gone up against the poltergeist in her house, and saved her son. She didn't know why she hadn't left, but she couldn't bear to leave her home. She wanted to hold onto her sons for as long as possible. She had tried to warn the family about the poltergeist too, but understood when the mother wouldn't listen to her daughter. It was hard enough to convince people that ghosts were real while you were an adult. As a child, it would be even worse. When her boys had shown up, she had been terrified for them. And when she realized they were hunters, when she realized that they _knew_, she wanted to cry. Their loss of innocence and childhood would always be with her. They shouldn't know these things. They were supposed to live happy and free lives. They weren't supposed to be dragged into this life of danger, and deceit, where you didn't know who to trust. When the poltergeist had gone after Sam, she had understood that there was one last thing she could do for her boys, because watching them she had seen how close they were. And turning towards Sam, she had said the first and last words he would ever remember hearing from her, "Sam. I'm sorry." She couldn't stay for long, she knew that and she was sorry she couldn't say more to Dean. But she had to say sorry to her youngest. Sorry for making the deal with that demon, for condemning her youngest to that fate. She had been forced to watch as the blood had dripped into his mouth and she felt sick knowing that Azazel could only do it because of her.

The only reason why she wasn't a vengeful spirit was because of her boys. She knew that. As long as there was hope that she could see them again, even just for a moment, she had held on to who she was. Twenty two years was a long time to hold on, but for that moment, when she was able to see how goodhearted her boys were, it was worth it. Every single second.

When she had gone to heaven, finally, she had been greeted by an angel. An actual angel. And at first, she felt blessed and honoured. And then their plans for her boys had been revealed to her. She had been furious, but could do nothing. The angels had given her a chance to see her boys grow up, into the men who had saved the family from the poltergeist. They had allowed her to see them in all those missed years, and had then let her continue watching, in present time.

Watching the boys growing up had made her heart wrench. Not only should she be there for them, but so should _John_. She hadn't wanted her own kids raised in the hunting life, and that was exactly what was happening. She watched as Dean raised his brother, taught him how to read and write, played with him, made him food, and took care of him when he was sick. John dragged them from place to place, always looking for the next hunt, looking for the next thing to kill. She understood John's need for revenge, oh God did she understand, but that didn't mean that it was right. That didn't mean that he could do this to them.

When Sam had left for college, her heart (metaphorically speaking of course) shattered. She seemed to be ripped three ways. Her husband had only wanted to protect his child, she knew that. He wanted to be sure that he was always around to save him. And when Sam had revealed his acceptance letter, John was so scared that he couldn't do it. His last words in that fight, before Sam had walked out, were a result of how terrified he was that something would get Sam at school and that he would know it was his fault, because he wasn't there. Having seen his wife die already, he wasn't prepared to lose his son. He checked on Sam from time to time, Mary was relieved to know.

Dean was even more upset than his father, she was sure. While John loved Sam and wanted him safe, it was Dean who really _knew_ him. Dean had been the one to raise him and he loved Sam as though Sam was half of himself. Of course, they were soul mates. She had been informed that when Sam and Dean did die, they would share their heaven. When Dean went with John to check on Sam (and sometimes without John), Mary was relieved.

And her heart ripped for Sam, her baby Sammy because he was all alone. No one to support him, no one to be there for him. He was getting what he wanted, what _she_ wanted, but it wasn't fair that he had to lose his family over this. And he was more like her than anyone would ever know. They had both hated the life, and they had both lost their families to the monsters in the dark. Knowing that her husband and oldest were checking in on Sam didn't make it any better, because _Sam_ didn't know.

And then Sam's friends were possessed. All part of Azazel's plan to raise Lucifer, and to make sure Sam didn't just disappear. And his friends souls left the 'meatsuits' and came up to heaven. They relived their fondest memories, sure, and they were always with the people they loved the most, but she knew they were confused. They didn't understand what had happened in their last days/weeks/months.

And that is why Mary is currently standing in a heaven that isn't her own, looking at memories that aren't hers, and seeing unfamiliar faces surrounding the one she's looking for, Iris. She walks to Iris and speaks, "I wish to ask for a favour". Iris doesn't even glance at her, simply continuing to watch the memory. In it, a family is reconciling – a young man and woman. This is Iris' favourite heaven to come to, having offered comfort in their time of need.

"You want to help those souls."

"Yes."

And then it happened. Now Mary was in a little pocket of heaven that wasn't hers, with a bunch of confused souls that didn't know her, although she knew who they were. They were in an open space with couches and chairs, and a large TV that would suit her purpose. These were friends of Sam's. Friends who had been taken from their loved ones too soon in the war that demons always preserve. Jessica was there, and Brady, and David, and Cassandra, and Lizzie. Zach, Luis and Rebecca were still alive, however. They knew the truth. Or at least part of it. They knew some of what was out there, and that would have to be good enough.

"Hello," Mary smiled at them. They looked at her, some of them nervous, all of them confused and all of them curious. "I know that you're all enjoying your memories, but I also know that you're unsettled and a little confused about what happened, about the way your lives ended. And I think I can help with that. My name is Mary Winchester. You all knew my son, Sam Winchester in college." A collective gasp followed these words. She looked at all of them, but her kind eyes rested on Jessica, who was holding a hand over her mouth.

"I have been watching my sons grow up, and I saw your lives where you interacted with my son. I wanted to show you what happened, why everything happened as it did, and bring you some peace. You loved my son, I can see that, and he loved you too. All of you. But first, I'd like to get to know the people that my son spent four years of his life with."

And so, the six of them sat down on the couches and chairs and talked. Mary revealed to them a world that they didn't know about while they talked about themselves, their families and her son. Mary listened raptly, not even caring that she had already seen every moment of Sam's life, but living it again with the people around her.

Eventually conversation died down, and Jessica, who was sitting next to Mary, asked, "What do you mean by what happened? Can you explain to me why I was – why I was on the ceiling?" The others looked at her, confused.

"On the ceiling?" Lizzie asked.

Jess turned and nodded, readying herself to speak.

"You don't need to tell them," Mary said not unkindly. "I can show them. I can show you all of it. That's why we're here, in this room. I told you that I wanted to give you peace. That means that I want to tell you the truth. About the world, about monsters, and about Sam and his brother."

"Can you really do that?" Jess asked, eyes wide.

"I've had a little bit of help, setting this up, bringing you all here, but yes."

"I want to see Sam the Man's life," said David. And the rest of his friends agreed.

"Then let's start." The TV flickered to life.


	2. Pilot

**A/N: The episode is bolded, while the story itself is in normal font. I don't know whether I'm going to do the whole season or if I'm just going to leave this here. I guess it depends on whether people ask me to do more or if someone else wants to take over. So _let me know_ what you think.**

******I also decided not to include Luis. I loved him in the pilot, he was just so easygoing. So he gets to live a long and happy life! I replaced the first chapter, taking him out of it.**

**Warning: There is some mild, teenagery kind of language in here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, unfortunately. Just an idea.**

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"The T.V. will pause whenever we stop and talk so that we don't miss anything that could be important," Mary let them know. She understood that they were about to be overwhelmed with information and would have a lot of questions to ask. "We're starting off on a night that everything began. So you understand why a lot of things happened."

The students nodded. While Mary was interested in all of them, she was mostly interested in Jess. After all, Sam had been about to ask her to marry him, and while she had seen her with Sam, she wanted to get to know her on a more intimate level. They all turned to the T.V. now where the words, **"Lawrence, Kansas: 22 Years Ago"**rested on the screen.

"**Come on, let's say goodnight to your brother," Mary walks in holding a child, who seems to be about four years old. The child runs to a crib with a baby inside.**

"**G'night, Sam." The child kisses his forehead.**

**Now Mary leans over him, "Goodnight, love" and kisses his temple.**

"**Hey Dean," a man says. There is a shot of a man at the door. The child, now known as Dean, runs towards him.**

"**Daddy!"**

"**Hey buddy. So what do you think? D'you think Sammy's ready to toss around a football yet?"**

**Dean shakes his head, giggling, "No, daddy".**

Sam's friends started in surprise. "What is it?" Mary asked. They looked at each other nervously knowing that it was her child they were going to talk about.

"It's just, at the funeral –" Cassandra started.

"He wasn't very…" Lizzie trailed off.

"He didn't belong there!" David finally said. "Nobody knew who he was. He was just some random guy. And he didn't leave Sam's side. He didn't let us talk to Sam at all, and _he_ didn't talk at all."

"And it was only after he came and got Sam that the fire started. It was suspicious," Cassandra voiced.

Brady remained quiet. He hadn't been at the funeral. Instead, he had been running – or his body had been running – to inform some other guy about the "good news".

"I understand. You're going to see the life they lead though, and it's going to make you realize exactly why he was acting that way. This was before his entire life changed. Don't judge him too harshly," Mary reminded them.

**Mary leaves the man hugging Dean, and he says "Sweet dreams, Sam". There is obvious love in his voice as he says this. He leaves with Dean and the baby is drawn to the mobile above the bed. The clock stops, and the light flickers before going out.**

"Cause that's not creepy," Lizzie chuckled nervously. They all knew something bad was coming. Otherwise they wouldn't be watching this.

**Mary is in bed when static is heard on the baby monitor. Sam can be heard as well. "John?" Mary asks. He's not there, so Mary gets up to check on Sam.**

**She goes to the nursery and finds John standing over the crib. "John? Is he hungry?" John turns his head and shushes her. "Okay", Mary says and turns away from the room. She pauses as the light down the hall starts flickering. With confusion on her face, she walks towards it and taps it. The light stops flickering. That's when Mary notices the sound of the television. With a questioning tilt to her head, she walks downstairs to find the television on and John asleep in front of it.**

Everyone gasped and spoke at once.

"What the hell?"

"Oh my gawd."

"But _Sam's_ up there! He's okay though, we know he is!"

"What's he doing in there?!"

"Oh shit," Brady whispered. He knew what was going on up there. He knew it from talking to the yellow-eyed … the yellow-eyed … person.

**Mary's eyes go wide and she runs back up to the nursery, calling Sam's name. The scene cuts back to John as he wakes up to Mary's scream. "Mary!" he runs upstairs to the nursery. Mary isn't there.**

"What? But you were just there?" Cassandra said uncertainly, looking at Mary. Mary just smiled sadly at her.

**He walks to the crib and Sam looks up at him. There is a drop next to Sam's head. John reaches out to touch it and another drop lands on his hand. John looks up and finds Mary on the ceiling, staring at him. **

Fresh gasps now. They stared at Mary, but Mary was watching Jess. Her face was pale and her lips were trembling. Mary reached out her hand and took hers, reassuring her. Jess turned to look at Mary, scared. All Mary could do was smile comfortingly

**There is blood soaking through her nightgown. John collapses to the ground, screaming, "No, Mary!" and a fire erupts around her. **

Jess stared at the T.V. What she had just seen – it couldn't be possible. It had happened to her, but she had to have been drugged somehow. Brady had to have drugged her. She had hallucinated the black eyes and the looking down on Sam and the sudden cut on her stomach, and the fire, and the pain. None of it had been real. She started shaking, and felt a pull on her hand as though from a distance, and someone said her name. With a gasp, everything came back into focus and she found Mary hugging her tightly.

"It's okay, it's okay," she was saying as she rubbed soothing circles on her back. Jess slowly felt herself relax. The others were carefully not looking at her. Jess focused on breathing evenly, before she decided to keep watching. She had to know what happened. She had to find out what this insanity was. And for now she was willing to trust this woman who had Sam's eyes and dimples. And his kindness and gentleness. Everything that Dean was lacking when he appeared in her apartment that Friday night.

**John stares in shock as Sam starts to cry. He comes to his senses, and picks Sam up, going into the hallway.**

"**Daddy!" Dean is in the hallway.**

"**Take your brother outside as fast as you can!" John orders his son. "Don't look back! Now, Dean, go!"**

**As Dean runs outside, John goes back into the nursery to see if he can save his wife. The flames have grown and the entire nursery is engulfed. "Mary, no!"**

**Dean runs out of the house, carrying his brother. "It's okay Sammy." John runs out and picks up both boys, taking them further from the house before the top floor where the nursery is, explodes.**

**Firemen are at the scene and the three males are sitting on their car. John is distraught.**

"What the hell just happened?!" David yelled, getting to his feet. Everyone turned to Mary expectantly. But Mary understood. Every teenager in this room had been possessed. Every. One. Except for Jess. They needed to know that everything that 'they' had done, wasn't their fault.

"What was that?" Jess asked quietly, but somehow more urgently than David had. Because she was the only one who really didn't know. Who didn't understand.

"What you just saw there was a demon attack." Mary was met with understanding and horrified looks. She mostly spoke to Jess. "You're going to have to believe me on this, because this whole thing is about the truth. There is no use in me lying to you, not now. Not here.

"David, Lizzie, Cassandra, and Brady, all of you were possessed by demons at some point. That's why you're here now. All of you should have lived longer lives than you did. And I know it doesn't make sense to you, and I know that it doesn't seem real, but demons are real, and some of them have greater powers. The one that attacked me was strong enough to hold me to the ceiling, cut me, and start the fire. That's what the smoke was, that came to you. The dark haze. And when you couldn't control your body, and you did terrible things? That wasn't you, and you have nothing to be ashamed about." Mary seemed to have found the right thing to say, because some of the tension that had appeared seemed to disappear, especially from Brady.

"And demons aren't the only things out there. There are also vampires, and werewolves, ghosts and poltergeists…"

"How could we have not noticed any of that?!" Jess said. "That doesn't make any sense! It can't! I had to have been imagining things that night."

Her friends looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"She's right," Brady said finally, quietly speaking up. "They really do exist. It was…" Brady took a deep breath, knowing how crazy he sounded. "During Thanksgiving, I was outside, taking a break from my family when a lot of black smoke came – it came right at me. Don't give me that look! I know how crazy it seems, but it's the truth! It came at me, and suddenly I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't control anything. I was trapped. Inside my own body. And that night… I wouldn't hurt you. I swear." Brady said to Jess, shaking with the memory.

Jess looked at him. "I know," she said quietly. It was hard to believe, it really was. But seeing Brady here, now, it wasn't the same. He looked like he did that night, but here he was… softer. There was a more gentle air about him than there had been for the little while before her death. He didn't make her cringe or feel sick to be around. She had recognized that immediately, and knowing that she was already dead, knowing that he was too, that was why she hadn't bothered being angry when she had first seen him. There was nothing she could do to him here. And now she knew for sure that it wasn't him. That he had no control over himself that night. She felt a huge weight lift from her shoulders suddenly and breathed out, relieved.

Brady looked up at Mary. "I have to know what happened."

"Me too," Cassandra said.

"And me," added Lizzie.

"Me four," David spoke up.

"And me," Jess said, quietly but surely.

"I promise you that it will all make sense soon," Mary finally said. They turned back to the T.V.

**Stanford University: Present Day**

"**Sam." A young woman, Jess, walks into the room, dressed in a nurse's outfit. "Get a move on, would ya? We were supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago. Sam! You coming, or what?"**

"A bit demanding there, Jess?" Cassandra laughed.

"Shut up," Jess blushed.

**A young man, Sam, pops his head into the room.**

"**Do I have to?"**

Jess smiled. Sam was just so cute. And she knew that he had only gone for her. He hated going out to packed places, he always felt uneasy. And she also knew that he hated Hallowe'en. Now she knew why, Mary burning on the ceiling running through her head.

**We see a picture of Mary and John from the house in Lawrence.**

Mary smiled, happy that her son had managed to hold onto something of their old life.

"**Yes! It'll be fun." Sam walks fully into the room. "And where is your costume?" Jess asks, accusingly.**

**The man grins, and steps closer. "You know how I feel about Halloween."**

**The scene cuts to a club. Sam, Jess and their friend Luis are sitting around a table.**

"Luis!" David yelled. The two of them had been roommates at Stanford.

"**Here's to Sam and his awesome LSAT victory." Jess raises her shot glass.**

"**All right, all right, it's not that big of a deal," Sam says, but he raises his glass to her and throws the shot back.**

"**He acts all humble, but he scored a 174."**

"Seriously?!" Lizzie shrieked. "A 174?! How did he even manage that?!"

"He's just that good," Jess replied, grinning, obviously proud of her boyfriend.

"Who knew he had it in him?" David grinned.

"All he ever did was study, how could he _not_ get that score?" Cassandra grinned as well. She had done pretty well too, but not that well.

Jess stuck her tongue out at them in reply.

**Luis, also in costume, throws his shot back. "Is that good?"**

"**Scary good," she replies, taking her own shot.**

"**So there you go," Luis says, clapping his hand on Sam's shoulder. "You a first round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want."**

"**Actually, I got an interview here. Monday. If it goes okay, I think I've got a shot at a full ride next year."**

"**Hey," Jess leans forwards. "It's gonna go great."**

"**It'd better," Sam smiles at her.**

"**How does it feel to be the golden boy in your family?" Luis asks.**

"**Ah, they don't know."**

"**I would be gloating! Why not?"**

"'**Cause we're not exactly the Brady's," Sam throws some peanuts at him.**

"**And I'm not exactly the Huxstable's," Luis throws peanuts right back. "More shots." He leaves to get more as Sam and Jess protest.**

Lizzie had a sad smile on her face. She understood not being close to your family – she wasn't very close to hers. She was just lucky that she had found such great friends at Stanford that she could turn to.

"**Seriously. I'm proud of you and you're gonna knock 'em dead on Monday and you're gonna get that full ride. I know it."**

"**What would I do without you?" Sam asks her.**

"**Crash and burn." Jess smiles and the couple kisses.**

"Awww," Lizzie and Cassandra cooed at the scene.

"Go Sam!" David shouted, and Brady grinned.

Jess glared at them.

**Back in the apartment, Sam and Jess are both sleeping when suddenly there's a small crash. **

"What?"

**Sam's eyes open immediately and he's fully aware as he throws the covers off and gets out of bed. He walks out of the bedroom noiselessly and stops where he can see an open window. He waits for the person to walk by a door, and then walks to another door. He waits for the person to walk through.**

"How did he know what to do?" Lizzie asked, biting her lip. Everyone shook their heads, unable to believe it. Sam had been quiet, but not _stealthy_. It was like he was suddenly the hunter instead of the victim though.

**When the person enters, Sam immediately attacks. The two scuffle. Sam's good, but the other person is better, and seems to know every move Sam's going to make. Suddenly Sam's on the ground, with a shape on top of him. "Woah, easy tiger," the man says with a grin.**

"**Dean?" Sam asks in disbelief. Dean chuckles. "You scared the crap outta me."**

"**That's cause you're outta practice." Suddenly Sam moves and quickly pins Dean down. "Or not," Dean laughs. "Get off me."**

The group of friends looked at each other, startled. "Since when did he know how to fight?" one of them asked.

Even Jess had no answer for him. She hadn't seen him move like that, ever.

**Sam easily pulls him up. "Dean, what the hell are you doing here?"**

"**I was looking for a beer," Dean claps his hands on Sam's shoulders.**

"**What the hell are you doing here?" Sam asks more seriously.**

"He just said he was looking for a beer?" Lizzie said, confused.

"You know, it's just you that thinks it's okay for someone to stumble into your apartment at whatever in the morning for a beer, right?" Cassandra asked her, grinning.

Lizzie just shrugged.

"**Okay, all right. We gotta talk."**

"**Ah, the phone?"**

"**If I'da called, would you have picked up?"**

"Wow, what happened there?" Cassandra asked.

"You'll see," was all Mary said.

**The two are interrupted by Jess and the light she turns on. "Sam?" The boys turn to her in unison.**

"**Jess." Sam looks kind of nervous. "Hey. Dean, this is my girlfriend, Jessica."**

"**Wait, your brother Dean?" Jess asks, surprised, with a smile.**

"He'd barely even said anything about the guy. I was starting to think he was imaginary."

"**I love the smurfs," Dean says as he points to her shirt. It's cut down the middle. "You know, I gotta tell you, you are completely out of my brother's league."**

"Oh my gawd, what a perv," Lizzie said without thinking. She looked up at Mary in horror. "Sorry, sorry I didn't mean –"

"Don't worry about it," Mary smiled. She understood, and if it had been her in Jess' position, she would've said that herself. Dean was, however, her son and he had been a ladies man from the moment he had started kicking.

"**Just, let me put something on."**

"**No, no, no. I wouldn't dream of it." Dean stares at her. "Seriously. Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, and talk about some private family business, but uh, nice meetin' you."**

**Jess smiles unsure, looking at Sam. "No," he says, going to stand beside her, "no, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her."**

"Good for him!" Lizzie said. "I always knew I liked him."

"**Okay," Dean relents. "Dad hasn't been home in a few days."**

The group looked at each other, confused. Why was their dad not being home in a few days important enough for Dean to break in, in the middle of the night no less?

"**So he's working overtime on a miller time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later."**

**Dean nods, coming to an understanding. "Dad's on a hunting trip, and he hasn't been home in a few days." This seems to take on a whole different meaning to Sam as there is a close-up on his face.**

"**Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside."**

"What?" David asked. Sam always spoke with reason, and he never really changed his mind.

**The boys are walking down stairs, outside of the apartment.**

"**Dean, come on. You can't just break in, in the middle of the night and expect me to hit the road with you."**

"**You're not hearing me Sammy. He's missing. I need you to help me find him."**

"**Remember the poltergeist in Amhurst? Or the Devil's gates in Clifton? He was missing then too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."**

**Dean turns to him. "Not for this long. Now are you going to come with me, or not?"**

"**I'm not." Sam is sure of it.**

"**Why not?"**

"**I swore I was done hunting. For good."**

"**Come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean turns away and continues walking.**

"**Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."**

"What?!" Jess yelled. "He gave a _child_ a gun?! What's wrong with him?!" The others were muttering as well.

Mary wasn't too happy with that decision either. She had seen that in her first look through of their lives, and she had only wished that John had comforted his youngest child instead of arming him.

"**Well what was he supposed to do?"**

"What?" Jess said again, shocked. How could that be normal?

"**I was nine years old. He was supposed to say, 'Don't be afraid of the dark'."**

**The boys pause at a gate.**

"_**Don't be afraid of the dark?**_** What, are you kidding me? Of course you should be afraid of the dark. You know what's out there!"**

Those who had been possessed – Lizzie, Cassandra, David, and Brady – shifted uncomfortably. They had been part of that. People had armed themselves and been scared of _them_.

"**Yeah, but still, the way we grew up after Mom was killed. And Dad's obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven't found the damn thing. So we kill everything we can find."**

"This is crazy," Jess interrupted again, shaking her head. She didn't want to believe it.

"**And save a lot of people doing it, too."**

**After a pause, Sam continues on a different track. "You think Mom would've wanted this for us?"**

The students looked at her. Mary only shook her head. She hadn't wanted it. It was essentially her very worst nightmare, that her children be subjected to the kind of life that she had been.

**Dean pushes through the gate, and you get a sudden feeling that he doesn't like that tactic very much.**

"**The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, Dean, we were raised like warriors."**

Cassandra shuddered. "I couldn't imagine being raised like that." Everyone else agreed.

"It definitely isn't as glamorous as it seems to some people." They looked at Mary.

"You were raised like that too?" Jess asked, appalled.

"Yes. My parents were hunters, and they raised me like that. They taught me how to read out of mythology textbooks, and I became an expert in lore before high school. I learned how to shoot a gun, and how to use a knife before I learned how to cook. And that was back in the 50's-60's. They were sure that I had to carry on the family business. And I hated every moment of it. The whole time, all I wanted was to be a normal kid, to go to school and parties and not have to hide who I was. Instead I spent my Friday and Saturday nights digging in graveyards, or beheading vampires. I swore that my kids would never live that kind of life."

Everyone stared at her in shock, not knowing what to say.

"Shall we?" Mary asked. The rest of the group nodded, turning back to the T.V.

"**So what're you gonna do? Just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?" The two of them have stopped at a car as they talk.**

"**No, not normal. Safe."**

"**And that's why you ran away?" Dean lets out a small snort of disbelief. Sam looks at him incredulously.**

"**I was just going to college. It was Dad who said if I was gonna go, I should stay gone. And that's what I'm doing."**

"He said that?! To his kid?!" Jess raved. "I knew Sam didn't have a good home life! He never talked about it! Never mentioned his father and I only found out about his brother accidentally! If he didn't want to live that life, then he shouldn't have had to! I'm glad he got out," she finished resolutely. The others nodding, with various degrees of disgust on their faces.

Despite agreeing with Jess somewhat, Mary still felt the need to defend her husband. "In John's defense, he only wanted to be able to watch out for Sam. If Sam wasn't with him, he could have been getting into all kinds of trouble. John wasn't really angry at Sam, just terrified that he was going to lose him."

"It doesn't mean it was right," Jess answered, more calmly.

"No, it wasn't."

"**Yeah, well Dad's in real trouble right now. If he's not dead already, I can feel it." **

Brady bit his lip. He knew from having the demon inside him that John should've died somewhere around here. He didn't understand everything in the conversation between the demon inside him and the yellow-eyed one. From what he did understand, John was hunting the other demon and there had been a trap set for him while yellow-eyes made his escape.

**The boys stare at each other, seemingly trying to will the other into understanding. "I can't do this alone."**

"**Yes you can."**

**Dean looks away, at the ground. "Yeah, well, I don't want to."**

**Sam's resolve flickers. Reluctantly, he asks, "What was he hunting?"**

"Just like that?" Cassandra asked. "What about the interview?" Jess shrugged. She had tried to convince him not to, but she also knew that he needed to help his family.

**Dean opens the trunk of the car they stopped at, and then lifts it to reveal a hidden compartment, full of weaponry.**

"Crap." David said.

"You got that right," Lizzie said, her jaw hanging.

They had never seen that many weapons in one place, except for a museum maybe. But there were all kinds of weird looking knives, and several guns, and machetes, and the list went on and on.

**He holds the top up with a sawed-off and starts looking for something.**

"**So when Dad left, why didn't you go with him?"**

"**I was on my own gig, this voodoo thing down in New Orleans."**

**Sam snorts. "Dad let you go on a hunting trip by yourself?"**

**Dean looks up. "I'm twenty-six, dude."**

"He looks pretty good for a twenty-six year old though," Lizzie raised her eyebrows suggestively, causing Cassandra to giggle and the guys to groan.

"I look pretty good too, Liz," said David with a smirk.

Lizzie hit him playfully in the back of the head.

Mary watched them, amused. She wished her kids had been given the chance to just be kids like this.

"**Right, here we go." He pulls some papers out. "So dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy, they found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA." Sam looks at the paper, titled 'Centennial Highway Disappearance'.**

"**So maybe he was kidnapped."**

"**Yeah, well, here's another one in April, another one in December, '04, '03, '98, '92. Ten of them over the past twenty years." He takes the paper back from Sam. "All men. All same five mile stretch of road. Started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. Hadn't heard from him since, which is bad enough." Picking up a recorder, he continues, "Then I get this voicemail yesterday."**

"_**Dean…Something big is starting to happen… I need to try and figure out what's going on… It may… Be very careful, Dean, we're all in danger."**_

"That doesn't sound ominous," Cassandra said, biting her nails nervously.

"Not at all," Brady said quietly.

**Dean clicks stop on the recorder, looking at Sam. "You know there's EVP on that?" Sam asks him.**

"There's what?" Lizzie asked.

"**Not bad, Sammy. Kind of like riding a bike, in'it? All right, I slowed the message down, ran it through a gold wave, took out the hiss, and this is what I got." Dean presses play again, looking at Sam expectantly.**

"Did you understand any of that?" David asked. Everyone just shook their heads.

"_**I can never go home."**_** Stop again.**

"**I can never go home," Sam repeats. Dean tosses the recorder back into the trunk and closes it.**

"**You know, in almost two years I've never bothered you, never asked you for a thing."**

"Don't go. Don't do it Sam," Brady said, closing his eyes. Jess looked at him in understanding.

"Why not? He can make it back before Monday," David replied.

"No, it's just not right. It's not good," Brady was shaking. "He shouldn't leave. He shouldn't leave Jess there."

No one could argue – this was the weekend she had died in the fire, after all.

**Sam sighs and looks around, before his eyes settle back on Dean. "All right. I'll go. I'll help you find him. But I have to get back first thing Monday. Just wait here." Sam turns away.**

"**What's first thing Monday?"**

"**I have this…" Sam steels himself. "I have an interview."**

"Why should he be nervous about telling his brother about the interview? It's a good thing," Cassandra said, confused.

"**What, a job interview? Skip it."**

"What? He couldn't just skip a job interview!" Jess said indignantly.

"**It's a law school interview," Sam corrects. "And it's my whole future on a plate."**

"**Law school?"**

"**So we got a deal or not?" Dean just looks at him.**

**Back in the apartment, Sam is putting a hook shaped knife into a duffle bag.**

"It's kind of creepy that I didn't even notice that there. Am I really that blind?" Jess asked the room.

"I'd say so," David replied with a smirk. "That thing's huge."

They were all kind of concerned though. Since Jess hadn't noticed weapons in her own apartment, how many other people were in danger from just some psycho killer who knew how to hide a weapon?

"**Wait, you're taking off?" Jess asks, coming into the bedroom. "Is this about your dad? Is he all right?"**

"**Yeah, you know, just a little family drama."**

"It's a little bit more than a little," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"**I thought your brother said he was on some kind of hunting trip."**

"**Uh, yeah, he's just deer hunting up at the cabin. He's probably got Jim, Jack and José along with him. I'm just going to go bring him back."**

"I just can't understand why he'd keep lying to me," Jess said sadly. "Did I ever really know him?"

"You knew him in all the ways it counted," Mary reassured her. "He had an extra skill set on the side, but he loved you, and he would do anything to keep you safe. Knowing what he knew, it would've put you in danger, and he couldn't do that."

"**What about the interview?"**

"**I'll make the interview. This is only for a couple days."**

"**Sam, I mean, please. Stop for a second. You sure you're okay?"**

"**I'm fine."**

"**It's just, you won't even talk about your family. And now you're taking off in the middle of the night to spend a weekend with them? And with Monday coming up, which is kind of a huge deal –"**

"**Hey, everything's going to be okay," Sam assures her. "I will be back in time, I promise." After a kiss on the cheek, he leaves.**

"I still can't believe that after not even speaking to them in two years, Sam's just going to see them," Lizzie said.

"They're still his family though," Brady said. "He had to make sure his father was okay."

"**At least tell me where you're going!" Jess calls to his retreating back.**

"Sneaky, sneaky," David chirped.

**Jericho, California**

"**Amy, I can't come over tonight," a young man says, driving. "Because I've got work in the morning, that's why… Yeah, okay, if I miss it my dad's going to have my ass." He stops and stares as a woman in white appears by the side of the road. **

"Ohhhhh naughty, naughty," David said in a sing-song voice.

"He'd better not stop," said Lizzie, glaring.

"What if she just needs help?" Jess asked, albeit nervously.

**She flickers. He tells Amy he'll call her back and hangs up. The car radio starts breaking up into static as he pulls up beside the woman.**

"This is like the beginning of a horror movie or something," Cassandra said. She had a fondness for horror movies, but at least she knew those were fake, and a friend of hers wasn't right in the middle of one.

"**Take me home," the woman says when he stops. She is wearing a white dress, ripped and torn. He opens the door.**

"**Sure, get in." She gets in the car, and he look nervous. "So, where do you live?"**

"**At the end of Breckenridge Road." She replies. Her dress is low cut, not leaving much to the imagination.**

"**Coming from a Hallowe'en party, or something?" He looks at her chest. "Look, a girl like you really shouldn't be alone out here." She turns her head towards him, and pulls up her dress, uncovering her leg.**

"**I'm with you." He looks away and she turns his head back towards her. "Do you think I'm pretty?"**

"Oh my gawd. Get out of there!" David yelled.

**He stares at her breasts. "Uh huh."**

"He needs to rethink his life choices," Cassandra said.

"Boys are disgusting," Lizzie grumbled out.

"Hey!" both Brady and David yelled out at the same time.

"Okay, okay, not all boys. Just pervs and cheaters," Lizzie relented.

"Damn straight," was David's reply.

"**Will you come home with me?"**

**He laughs, "Hell yeah!" and drives. **

The group shook their heads in disgust.

**The house at the end of Breckenridge Road is old, and hasn't been lived in for a very long time. "Come on, you don't live here."**

"**I can never go home," says the woman as she looks wistfully out the window. She disappears from the car while the young man looks at the house, talking to her. He doesn't notice the hand print on the outside of the windshield as he gets out. **

"Don't get out of the car! Never get out of the car!" Cassandra yelled at him.

"You know he can't hear you, right?"

"Shut up, David."

**He walks up to the house, trying to talk to her. She isn't anywhere. At the door, he peers in and a bird flies out, making him scream. He runs back to the car and speeds off. As he's driving, the woman appears in his backseat. He screams and jerks the wheel, driving onto a bridge. There is a close up of the car, and his screams are heard, and suddenly a splatter of blood as he goes silent.**

"It is always that nasty?" Lizzie asked.

"It's pretty par for the course," Mary admitted. "You can't be a hunter without seeing your fair share of blood and gore."

**Dean walks out of a gas station and asks Sam, who's sorting through cassettes in the car, if he wants breakfast, holding up a bag of chips, a bottle of pop, and what look like mints.**

"**So how'd you pay for that stuff? You and dad still running credit card scams?"**

"Credit card scams?!" Jess yelled while the others stared, shocked. "And why is Sam asking like it's so normal?!"

"**Yeah, well, hunting ain't exactly a pro ball career." They discuss the current card scam.**

**Sam suddenly turns to him, "I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection."**

Jess stared in disbelief. "The cassettes bother him more than the fraud does? I don't believe it."

"**Why?" Dean looks offended.**

"**Well for one, they're cassette tapes. And two, **_**Black Sabbath? Motor Head? Metallica?**_** It's the greatest hits of the mullet rock.**

"I was offended by that. I love that music!" Mary said easily. The students stared at her and she shrugged.

"**Well, house rules Sammy. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole." Dean picks up a cassette and puts it into the player.**

"**You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve year old. It's Sam." Dean cranks up the music, 'Back in Black' by ADCD.**

"He gets mad at anyone who even tries to call him 'Sammy'. We think he's got a sensor about that or something, he just knows," David said.

"I called him Sammy once when I first met him and he glared at me so hard I thought I was going to catch on fire," Brady grinned.

"**I'm sorry, I can't hear you, the music's too loud." We get the clearest look of the car, a 1967 Chevy Impala.**

"That is a sweet ride," David said, his jaw dropping.

"Boys and their toys," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

**As the two men enter Jericho, Sam is checking out morgues and hospitals searching for someone with their dad's description. They pull up to the bridge from the previous scene where police cars are sitting. Dean pulls over, reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out a small box. Opening that up, he rifles through fake I.D.'s until he finds one that suits his purpose. Sam doesn't really look surprised, just a bit nervous. "Let's go."**

"No way. They aren't actually going to use them, are they?" Jess asked.

"That's so cool though!" David was grinning. "It's like being a spy or something!"

**Sheriffs are looking at the car. "No sign of a struggle, no footprints, no fingerprints, spotless. It's almost too clean."**

"**So this kid, Troy. He's dating your daughter, isn't he? How's Amy doing?"**

"**She's putting up missing posters downtown."**

**That's when the sheriff notices Sam and Dean looking around.**

"**You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn't you?"**

"**And who're you?" **

**Dean pulls out his I.D. "Federal Marshalls."**

"Samuel Winchester!" Jess yelled. She seemed to be doing a lot of that.

"Woah, that's… wow," said Lizzie.

"I can't believe Sam's just going along with it!"

"What if they find out?" Cassandra started biting her nails again.

"It's easier to just pretend to be someone else on a hunt. You get information faster that way, and a lot of the time, the hunter doesn't stick around long enough for it to become a problem," Mary offered.

"So you're okay with this?" Jess asked, eyeing her.

"I don't like it, but they're hunters. It's what they do. I did it too, when I went on hunts with my dad."

"**You two are a little young to be Marshalls, aren't you?"**

**Dean laughs. "Thanks, that's awfully kind of you. You did have another one just like this, correct?"**

"**Yeah, that's right. About a mile up the road. There have been others before then."**

"**So this victim, you knew him?" Sam intersects.**

"**Town like this, everybody knows everybody."**

**Dean's walking around the car. "Any connection between the victims, besides that they're all men?"**

"**No. Not so far as we can tell."**

"**So what's the theory," Sam asks.**

"**Honestly? We don't know. Serial murder. Kidnapping ring."**

"**Well that is exactly the king of crack police work I expect out of you guys." Sam stomps on Dean's foot, with an apologetic smile.**

"If he keeps talking like that, he's going to give them away," Cassandra muttered.

"**Thank you for your time. Gentlemen." Sam and Dean start walking away, the sheriff looking after them.**

**Dean smacks Sam in the back of the head. Sam looks murderous.**

"**Ow, what was that for?"**

"**Why'd you have to step on my foot?"**

"**Why do you have to talk to police like that?"**

"**Come on, man. They don't really know what's going on. We're all alone on this." **

"Doesn't mean he had to talk back like that," Jess muttered.

"**I mean, if we're gonna find dad, we've gotta get to the bottom of this thing ourselves." Sam looks over Dean's shoulder, and gives him a look. Dean turns around to find a sheriff and two FBI agents.**

"**Can I help you boys?"**

"**No sir, we were just leaving. Agent Mulder, Agent Scully."**

Lizzie snorted. When everyone looked at her, she just shrugged. "I like the X-Files, okay?"

**The brothers leave the crime scene to find Amy, who's putting up missing signs with a friend.**

"**You must be Amy. Troy told us about you. We're his uncles. I'm Dean, this is Sammy."**

"**He never mentioned you to me."**

"**Well that's Troy I guess. We're not around much. We're up in Modesto."**

"How are they getting away with that?" David asked, stunned that they hadn't been caught in that lie.

"Practice," Mary said. "And their good looks." David made a retching sound, and Mary laughed.

"You're biased," David said decidedly.

"**So we're looking for him too, and we're kind of asking around."**

**Amy's friend comes over, "Hey, are you okay?" Amy's good.**

"**You mind if we ask you a couple questions?"**

**The group of four are sitting in a diner, with Amy telling them about the phone call.**

"**He didn't say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?"**

"**Not that I can remember."**

**Sam comments on her necklace, which is a pentagram. Troy gave it to her to scare her parents with devil stuff. Sam tells her it's actually protection, and Dean shrugs him off, "Thank you unsolved mysteries."**

"It's good to know, though," Brady spoke up. The other previously possessed students nodded in agreement. They wished they had known that.

**Dean leans forwards in his seat. "Okay, here's the deal ladies. The way Troy disappeared. Something's not right. So if you've heard anything…" He trails off and the two girls look at each other. "What is it?"**

**Amy's friend speaks. "Well with all these guys going missing, people talk."**

"**What do they talk about?" Dean and Sam say in unison.**

"Woah, that was weird. And kinda cool," Cassandra said.

**She tells them about the local legend of a woman who was murder on Centennial Highway decades ago. Whoever picks her up when she's hitchhiking disappears forever.**

"That's super creepy," Lizzie shuddered.

**The boys are in the library, looking up news articles on the Jericho Herald website. Dean start off with 'Female Murder Hitchhiking', which yields no results. 'Female Murder Centennial Highway' also yields nothing.**

"**Let me try," Sam reaches for the mouse. Dean slaps his hand away. With a look, Sam pushes Dean's chair.**

"**Dude, you are such a control freak."**

"Okay, definitely brothers," Cassandra said, and the group laughed.

"**So angry spirits are born out of violent death, right?"**

"**Yeah," Dean says.**

"**Then maybe it's not murder." Sam tries 'Female Suicide Centennial Highway', and comes up with an article on Constance Welch who jumped off Sylvania Bridge in 1963 after the death of her children. The bridge is the same one Troy was murdered on.**

**That night, the two go to check out the bridge. Dean says this hunt might take a while, and Sam reminds him about the interview Monday.**

"**You're really serious about this, aren't you?" Dean asks. "You think you're just going to become some lawyer, marry your girl?"**

"**Maybe. Why not?"**

Jess blushed. Did he really think about marrying her? They hadn't really discussed it, although she had been meaning to. He had just been so distant in the past couple weeks.

"**Does Jessica know the truth about you? I mean, does she know about the things you've done?"**

"**No, and she's not ever going to know."**

"I wish he did tell me," Jess said sadly.

"**Well, that's healthy. You can pretend all you want, Sammy, but sooner or later you're going to have to face up to who you really are."**

"**Who's that?"**

"**One of us."**

"**No," Sam replies vehemently. "I'm not like you. This is **_**not**_** going to be my life."**

"**You have a responsibility."**

"**To dad and his crusade? If it weren't for pictures, I wouldn't even know what mom looks like. What difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, mom's gone. And she isn't coming back."**

"That is really sad," Cassandra voiced.

"But it's true. I didn't want them wasting their lives, looking for what killed me. It wouldn't help. I guess a small part of me wanted him killed though." Mary looked as though she was trying to decide whether to tell them something.

"What is it?" Jess asked her gently.

"He killed my parents too," Mary finally said. "And it's all my fault that it happened. If I hadn't been so selfish, I would still be alive, and none of this would ever have happened." Mary couldn't help but think about that horrible night, and the deal she had made.

"I'm sure you had no other choice," Jess answered back. Mary smiled at Jess, thanking her.

**Sam's hit a nerve. Dean grabs the front of his sweater and slams him up against the bridge railing.**

"Ouch," David grimaced.

"**Don't talk about her like that." He lets go of Sam and turns away. There's a woman on the opposite side of the bridge, Constance, about to dive into the river. "Sam," Dean draws his attention. She jumps and the two run over to see where she went. She disappeared. Suddenly the Impala starts up and the two stare at it.**

"Uhhh. Run?" was Lizzie's suggestion.

"**What the –?" Dean says.**

"**Who's driving your car?" Sam asks.**

**Dean pulls his keys from his pocket. **

"Oh no," Cassandra stared wide-eyed at the T.V.

**The car starts speeding towards them and they turn and run. They aren't going to make it and they both jump over the side of the bridge.**

**We see that Sam managed to hold onto the edge, and he yells for his brother. Dean crawls out of the river, covered in mud. The car is all right, but Dean's feeling angry, "That Constance chick, what a **_**bitch**_**!"**

"He'll get her just for touching the car," David said confidently.

**The two sit on the Impala. "You smell like a toilet," Sam points out to Dean.**

Everyone laughed. Trust Sam to focus on the non-important aspect.

**The two check in the next morning at a motel. There is already someone there using the name on the card that Dean's trying to use. They pick the lock on the door and go inside.**

"Oh good, another criminal skill," Jess sighed, exasperated.

**The walls are covered in notes.**

"Wow" was the general consensus as the group got a good look around the room.

"It's like a crime scene investigation."

**Dean turns on a lamp and sniffs a burger. "I don't think he's been here a couple days at least."**

"Gross," Cassandra wrinkled her nose.

**Sam is bending over to touch a line of white on the floor. "Salt, cat's eye shells. He was worried. Trying to keep something from coming in. What've you got here?"**

"Trying to keep something out all right," Brady glared at the T.V.

**Dean is looking at one of the walls. "Centennial highway victims. I don't get it. Different men, different ages, jobs, ethnicities. There's always a connection, right?" Sam walks over to a different wall. "What do these guys have in common?" Sam sees a note with 'Woman in White' written on it.**

"What does that mean?" Lizzie asked.

Mary just nodded towards the T.V.

"**Dad figured it out."**

"**What do you mean?"**

"**He found the same article we did. Constance Welch. She's a woman in white."**

**Dean turns back to the wall of victims. "You sly dogs. All right, so if we're dealing with a woman in white, dad would've found the corpse and destroyed it."**

"Is that always how you get rid of monsters?" Jess asked.

"Ghosts, you need to salt and burn the remains, vampires are beheaded, werewolves require a silver bullet through the heart, and wendigos need to be burned as well. There is a different way for dealing with each creature, but some of them share weakness. Neither ghosts or demons like salt, for example. And some ghosts can be destroyed by granting them peace another way," Mary explained.

"**She might have another weakness."**

"**Dad would want to make sure. He'd dig her up. Does it say where she's buried?"**

"**No, not that I can tell. If I were dad though, I'd go ask her husband. Maybe he's still alive."**

"**All right, why don't you see if you can find anything. I'm going to get cleaned up."**

"**Hey, Dean. What I said earlier, about mom and dad, I'm sorry."**

**Dean holds up his hand. "No chick flick moments."**

**Sam laughs a little. "All right. Jerk."**

"**Bitch." **

"That's all it took to get over it?" Lizzie was surprised.

"They have a very different relationship. Dean practically raised Sam himself, when John wasn't there." Mary smiled fondly. She was happy that her boys got along so well that even after twi years apart they were still in sync.

**Dean leaves to get cleaned up and Sam finds a picture in the mirror, of John, Dean and Sam.**

"Awww!" The girls cooed.

**Sam is listening to a voicemail from Jess, while Dean goes out to get some food. As he's leaving, he sees the sheriffs talking to the motel manager, who points out Dean.**

"Oh shit," David swore loudly. "Knew they were going to get caught!"

Cassandra started biting her nails again, and Lizzie bounced in her seat.

"How could they be so _stupid?! _They had to know it wouldn't work!" Jess said frantically.

**Dean calls Sam and warns him about the sheriffs, telling him to take off. Dean hangs up as the officer steps up behind him.**

"**Problem officers?"**

"**Where's your partner?"**

"**What partner?" The sheriff tells another to go and check out the motel room. Sam, peers through the window while Dean watches nervously.**

"What's he gonna do?! Where's he gonna go?!" Cassandra panicked.

Jess seemed to be holding her breath.

"**So. Fake U.S. Marshall. Fake credit cards. You got anything that's real?"**

"**My boobs," Dean says before he's arrested.**

Brady and David started laughing, while the girls face-palmed.

"He didn't," Jess sighed. "I hope Sam got away."

**At the police station, Dean is sitting at a desk and a sheriff walks in with a box. "So, you want to give us your real name?"**

"**I told you it's Nugent. Ted Nugent."**

Brady raised his eyebrows. "Really? A rock star alias? How is he going to get away with that?"

Mary grinned. "There are less people who know that than you think."

"**I'm not sure you realize just how much trouble you're in here."**

"**Are we talking like misdemeanour kind of trouble or uh squeal like a pig trouble?"**

"How can he be so flippant about this?" Lizzie demanded.

"Flippant?" David questioned. "Who says that?"

"Shut up."

"**You got the faces of ten missing persons taped to your wall. Along with a whole lot of satanic mumbo jumbo. Boy, you are officially a suspect."**

"How does he get out of that?" Lizzie was fidgeting. "I can't just see Sam leaving him there, either."

"**That makes sense. When the first one went missing in '82, I was three."**

"**I know you got partners. One of them's an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing."**

They had started laughing at how ridiculous everything sounded, until the older man was mentioned. They immediately sobered.

"**So tell me, Dean. Is this his?" The sheriff pulls a leather book out of the box and throws it on the table, in front of Dean. It seems to have a lot of meaning to him as he stares at it. "I thought that might be your name." The sheriff starts flipping through the book. "See, I leafed through this. What little I could make out, I mean it's nine kinds of crazy. But I found this, too." He settled on a page where 'Dean 35-111' is circled. "Now, you're staying right here until you tell me exactly what the hell that means." Dean looks up at him.**

"What does that mean?" Jess asked.

"Their father was a marine. They're co-ordinates," Mary answered.

**Meanwhile, Sam goes to see Joseph Welch and confirms that his father was there to speak to him as well. Sam tells Joseph that he's working with his father on a paper.**

"That's the third alias he's used in this hunt," Cassandra said.

**He finds out that Constance was buried in a plot by the house. Joseph moved because he didn't want to live in the same house his children died in. He claimed a happy marriage and Constance being the love of his life.**

**Before Sam gets into the Impala, he asks Joseph if he'd ever heard of a woman in white. Sam explains who she is, that they're spirits whose husbands cheated on them. The women murdered their children and then killed themselves, and upon finding an unfaithful man, they kill him and he's never seen again.**

"Wow," David said. "No cheating for me. You with me man?" He turned to Brady.

"Hell yeah," Brady replied. "I'm not getting jumped by a ghost for cheating."

**Joseph gets upset with the implications and tells Sam to get off his property and not come back.**

"It's your fault!" Cassandra shouted to Joseph on T.V.

**Back at the police station, Dean is trying to tell the sheriff that the numbers in the book refer to his high school locker combo. The sheriff doesn't believe him, but there's a call. He chains Dean to the table when he leaves to investigate.**

"Can they even do that?" Lizzie asked.

"It doesn't matter," Brady answered. "Who's going to say anything? He's probably the chief, and it's not like he's going to get himself in trouble. It's a small town too, it probably wasn't worth the bother to move him."

**Dean looks at the file on the table and finds a paperclip.**

"Glad they left that there," David said lightly.

**Picking the handcuffs off, he makes his escape with the journal and calls Sam, who's driving.**

"**Fake 9-1-1 phone call Sammy, I don't know, that's pretty illegal."**

"If I was alive, I would kick his _ass_!" Jess glowered at Sam on T.V.

"**You're welcome."**

"**Listen, we gotta talk."**

"**Tell me about it. So the husband was unfaithful. We are dealing with a woman in white and she's buried behind her old house, so that should've been dad's next stop."**

Jess grinned fondly. "He always got so worked up when he figured something out. He would just keep talking about it."

"**Sammy would you shut up for a second?"**

"**I just can't figure out why he hasn't destroyed the corpse yet."**

"**That's what I'm trying to tell you. He's gone. Dad left Jericho."**

"**What? How do you know?"**

"**I've got his journal."**

"Most hunters keep a journal of creatures, their dealings with them and what they look like, and how to kill them," Mary supplied. "I have several, myself."

"**He doesn't go anywhere without that thing."**

"**Yeah, well, he did this time."**

"**What's it say?"**

"**Same old ex-marine crap when he wants to let us know where he's going."**

"**Co-ordinates. Where to?"**

"**I'm not sure yet."**

"**I don't understand, I mean, what could be so important that dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Dean, what the hell is going on?" Constance suddenly appears in front of Sam and the breaks squeal as he skids to a stop, phone dropping from his hand. Constance appears in the back seat.**

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit," David repeated.

"Oh my gawd, Sam, get out of there!"

"Why did you go in the first place?"

"Wait," Brady interjected. "Didn't they say she just went after cheaters? He should be safe, right?"

Jess sighed in relief. There's no way he was unfaithful. Not Sam.

"**Take me home." And again, louder.**

"**No," Sam replies. **

"Good," Lizzie praised him.

**Constance locks the doors, and the gas pedal presses down. The car starts driving without Sam. He tries to get out and can't.**

"Nooooo," someone moaned.

**They arrive in front of the house and the car turns off. "Don't do this," Sam says.**

"**I can never go home," Constance laments.**

"**You're scared to go home," Sam notices. He turns around in his seat. She's gone. He's about to open the door when she appears in the front seat. Constance pushes Sam back and places her hand on his chest.**

"**Hold me. I'm so cold."**

"Don't do it man," David said fearfully.

"**You can't kill me. I'm not unfaithful. I've never been." She's causing him extreme pain.**

Jess let out a breath that she hadn't known she was holding. Sam wasn't the kind of guy to be unfaithful, but when Constance had taken him, she had started to worry.

**Leaning down, she whispers, "You will be," into his ear. "Just hold me." Constance kisses him, and he tries to reach his keys. She disappears again.**

**There is a moment of peace when suddenly Sam throws his head back against the headrest screaming.**

The group stars in horror as **he opens his sweater and burns can be seen in his shirt. Constance appears, her hand on his chest, and her fingers digging into his body.**

"That has to the sketchiest thing I've ever seen," David broke the silence.

"Sketchiest?! She's killing him!" Jess panicked. The others stayed silent, just wanting to get on with the hunt and find out that Sam was okay.

**The driver's side window shatters as bullets fly through it. Dean is standing on the other side.**

There is a collective sigh of relief, and various "thank gawds" from around the room.

**Constance disappears and then reappears, and Dean continues to fire. She disappears again.**

**Sam pulls himself up and starts the car. "I'm taking you home." He starts driving and crashes the car into the house.**

Jess shrieked and clapped her hands over her mouth.

**Dean runs in behind, opening the passenger door, and helps Sam out of the car.**

**Constance is in the house, and picks up a picture of herself and her two children. She looks at Sam and Dean and tosses the picture aside before shoving a bureau at them, pinning them to the car.**

"Oh good, they pissed off the ghost. Number one thing in horror movies, you don't piss off the thing trying to kill you any more than you already have," Cassandra informed them.

**The lights start to flicker and water runs down the stairs. Constance looks up and finds her children at the top. They hold hands and appear in front of her, "You've come home to us Mommy." They hug her and she screams before all three of them disappear into the floor.**

"That was it?" David asked after a moment of silence.

"Sam found her weak spot. Digging up the corpse is harder, because they try to protect it as much as possible. Usually by throwing the hunter around, or things at them," Mary told them.

"Is that why Sam has all those scars?" Jess asked.

"Yes. Hunting is a dangerous job, and there are always risks involved."

**The brothers toss the furniture away and walk over to the spot they disappeared. "So this is where she drowned her kids."**

"**That's why she could never go home. She was too scared to face them."**

"**You found her weak spot. Nice work, Sammy." Dean hits him in the chest, and Sam laughs in pain.**

"**Yeah I wish I could say the same for you. What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?"**

"**Hey, it saved your ass. I'll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car, I'll kill you." Dean says to Sam, who just laughs.**

**They're driving along the highway, Sam looking up the coordinates their dad left them. "Okay, so here's where dad went. It's called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado."**

"**Sounds charming. How far?"**

"**About six hundred miles."**

"**If we shag ass we can make it by the morning."**

**Sam looks at Dean. "Dean, I, um…"**

"**You're not going."**

"**Dean, the interview's in like ten hours. I've gotta be there."**

**Dean looks away from Sam, upset. "Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I'll take you home."**

"Does anyone else feel bad for Dean?" Lizzie asked. "I mean, he hasn't seen his brother, who he _raised_ in two years. Then he has him back and has to leave again? It's not fair."

Jess wanted to argue. God, did she want to argue, but her insides had gone ice cold. She was sure that if she opened her mouth she would be sick. Mary pulled her close and held her.

Brady was shaking now. He remembered walking into her apartment that night and her surprise at seeing him. He remembered talking to her, telling her that she was beautiful and that it was a pity they didn't have more time. He could still smell the cookies she had made for Sam. He hated himself for what he had done, for not being stronger and for not being able to prevent the possession. He felt sick to his stomach. Looking at Jess almost made him want to throw up, but of course he hadn't eaten anything since dying. She looked so scared, and it was entirely his fault.

The others noticed Jess and Brady's reactions and wisely said nothing. The atmosphere was suffocating as they sat there, tense and waiting.

**Dean stops the car outside Sam's apartment. Sam gets out and turns to talk to Dean through the window.**

"**Call me when you find him?" Dean nods. "Maybe I can meet up with you later, huh?"**

"**Yeah, all right." Sam taps the car and walks away. "Sam!" He turns. "You know, we made a hell of a team back there."**

"**Yeah." Dean drives off.**

**Sam sighs and enters the apartment, calling for Jess. He finds a plate of cookies on the table and a note, 'Miss you! Love you!' The shower is running as Sam finds his way to the bedroom, content. He lays back on the bed, eyes closed and a drop hits his face. And another and another. He opens his eyes to find Jess on the ceiling, blood soaking through her nightgown. A fire erupts from behind her and Sam starts screaming. Dean bursts through the door.**

"Oh my gawd," Cassandra and Lizzie said, gaping at the screen. Tears started to roll down their faces and they turned to Jess, as though terrified that she would burst into flames there and then.

David had a hand clapped over his mouth as though trying not to be sick. Jess was a good friend of his and it had been bad enough to know that she had died in a fire. To actually see what had happened to her, it was terrifying.

"I'm sorry Jess, I am so sorry," Brady said. "I couldn't help it, I couldn't do anything, but I didn't want to," he was rambling. There weren't words to describe how sorry he was about what had happened to her.

"It was you?!" Lizzie yelled, enraged. David and Cassandra were glaring daggers at him as well. David made a motion as though he was getting ready to launch himself at Brady.

"Yes, yes. I went to the apartment. I knew Sam was out, I had been watching for weeks and –"

"No," Mary cut him off. Everyone looked at her. "It wasn't you. You were possessed. By a demon. All of you know that. You can't feel guilty or be responsible for something you didn't even do."

All eyes turned to Jess now as she pulled herself away from where she had been sobbing into Mary's shoulder. "She's right, Brady. I know it wasn't you and I know there was nothing you could do. I've accepted that already."

"I should've been stronger, Jess. I should've been able to fight it off."

"It's very hard to fight off a demon. Even the best hunters have trouble doing it," Mary intervened. "Now I don't want anyone in here to think that it was Brady. We know better, and there's no point in being angry at the wrong person, for lack of a better word."

"**Sam!"**

"**Jess! No, Jess!" Dean has to physically push him out the door and into the street; the entire apartment in flames.**

"How did –?" Lizzie jerked her head at the T.V., tears still in her eyes. She looked like she hadn't wanted to say anything, but at the same time, wanted to know.

"When Dean started to drive away, his radio stopped working. He's been doing this long enough to recognize the signs of a demon presence and he immediately turned around to make sure Sam was okay," Mary answered.

**Dean goes from watching the firemen to Sam, who's staring into the trunk of the Impala, holding a gun. They look at each other, and Sam throws down the gun.**

"**We've got work to do," Sam says and closes the trunk.**

The silence in the room was deafening. Everyone was drowning in their own thoughts. First there was the revelation of the death of Mary. Then the revelation that Sam was a – a _hunter_. Of the _supernatural_. Ghosts at least. And then the fact that these things _existed_ in the first place, that they weren't just a story or a prank. That Sam was a whole different person than the quiet, couldn't hurt a fly, studious, and sweet person they knew at Stanford. They didn't know him at all. Then Jess' death and the revelation that it had been Brady, but not Brady, who had killed her.

But then, they had seen how compassionate and awkward he had been on this hunt. They had seen his quick thinking, and a smile that they had never seen before when he was with his brother. They had been able to see a part of Sam that they wish he had shown them. They wished that he had shared some aspect of this life with them.

They also understood that Sam just wanted to keep them safe. That if they had known what was really out there, and had believed it and not tried to put him in a mental hospital, they probably would've gone looking for something. They would've thought it would be fun, and they probably would've been killed.

The group still didn't know why they had been targeted though. They still didn't know why they had been possessed or killed. Was it because they knew Sam after all, or had they been randomly selected? They had all 'died' while at Stanford, their bodies having been through too much. Soon enough the demons had simply taken over completely, with the individual not comprehending those things around them. _Why?_

Mary patiently let them collect their thoughts, knowing that they were reeling from everything they had just seen. She couldn't blame them – it was a lot to take in.

"We still don't know everything," said Cassandra after a little while. "I don't know about you, but I mean, this showed us Sam's life, but we don't know why we were possessed or why we did the things we did." The others nodded their heads.

"And did I – we – really all have to die?" asked Jess. She was still shaken from having seen her own death. Brady clenched his jaw at that. He knew it wasn't him, but he still couldn't help but feel guilty.

"We can continue watching, if you like," Mary offered. "The purpose of this hunt was to open you up to the idea that there were ghosts and the like out there. You were also able to get to know Sam differently, and to see the other side of him. The reason for your deaths, and for your possessions does come up about four years from now. A lot happens in between though, and I wouldn't want to simply skip that. There are things you need to understand before then, things that you need to know. If we continue, you will see things that you don't want to see. Sam reaches his lowest point, and Dean is broken in a way that you cannot truly comprehend. I can show you, but you won't like the answer."

"But we would know? We would really know?" David asked quietly.

"Yes."

"Then, let's do it," Lizzie said decisively.

"Are you sure?" Mary asked.

She looked around as they all nodded.

"I want to know what happened to Sam too, after that," Jess spoke up. "And I want to understand why that happened to me. What the point of it all was."

"Okay. Let's start then."

The group turned back to the T.V., preparing themselves for what was to come.


	3. Wendigo

**A/N: So who else is crying in a hole over 9x03? Seriously depressing. Anyway, "Wendigo"!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the people, or the show or anything. Sigh.**

* * *

"Everyone ready?" Mary asked the group. They all nodded.

"Bring it!" David grinned.

There was a lighter edge around the group. The most personal and painful part of this was over for them. It was almost as though they were just watching T.V. now, except that at least two people were real and the events weren't fictional. All they had to do was get over the fact that Sam was a hunter of supernatural phenomena.

**Blackwater Ridge – Lost Creek, Colorado:**

"I've been there once," Brady said suddenly. "My family goes camping there sometimes."

"If we're watching it, nothing good is happening," Cassandra said.

"Maybe they don't all start off really depressing?" Lizzie suggested, hopefully.

"These 'episodes' all start off with some background information so you have an idea about what's going on," Mary told them. "Not all of them are depressing though."

**There is a strange growling noise as a campsite is seen. Two young men are playing a video game in one text, while in another tent, another young man records a video for Haley on his phone. Back in the first tent, one of the guys leaves to go to the bathroom. There is a strange crackling sound that doesn't come from the fire, and more growls. The guy screams.**

"**Brad?" the first gamer asks.**

"**Gary, what's going on?" the video recorder is worried.**

**Gary pokes his head out of the tent and sees whatever grabbed Brad. It pulls him from the tent and he screams.**

"Never leave safety. Never go and see why people are screaming!" Cassandra reprimanded Gary.

"What was he supposed to do?" Jess asked.

"Anything else! Everyone knows the rules of a horror movie! You don't have sex, you don't split up and you don't go towards the person doing the screaming."

"You know this isn't actually a horror movie, right? It's real life?" David asked.

"Of course. The rules still apply in real life though!"

**The last guy shuts off his light and sits in the middle of the tent.**

"See. _That's _how you survive," Cassandra told them.

**The creature surrounds the tent, and eventually claws his way through.**

"Uh huh," David said and everyone laughed. Cassandra blushed.

**Palo Alto, California:**

**Sam walks up to Jessica's grave, holding flowers.**

Immediately everyone sobered.

"He looks nice, all dolled up," David tried for humour. Everyone was too focused on the scene to pay him much attention.

"**I um, you always said roses were lame, so I brought you uh –" he cuts off as he sees a picture of her. **

Jess wanted to scream, or cry, or _anything. _She wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let him go. He looked so sad, so lost. This wasn't fair! Why did this have to happen to her? To him? To them? She didn't even realize she was crying until Mary wiped a tear from her face.

Mary reached out and pulled Jessica close, wiping the tears from her face, trying not to let her own fall. Her poor baby. This wasn't supposed to happen to him. None of it.

**There are tears in his eyes as he walks forward. "Jess," he says kneeling. "I should've protected you. I should've told you the truth. He puts the flowers down against the tombstone, and a hand comes up to grab his wrist.**

Everyone jumped at the sudden movement.

"Woah, did that scene just go from really really sad to really really scary?" Lizzie asked.

David nodded.

**Sam jumps awake as a blast of music explodes in the Impala. Dean looks over at him, obviously concerned.**

"That was only a dream?" Cassandra was floored and everyone else was stunned. "That was intense."

"**You okay?"**

"**Yeah, I'm fine," Sam rubs his eyes and looks forward.**

"**Another nightmare?" Sam coughs and pointedly ignores the question. "Want to drive for awhile?" Dean asks.**

**Sam snorts. "Dean, your whole life, you never once asked me that."**

"**Just thought you might want to. Nevermind." Dean sounds frustrated.**

"**Look man, you're worried about me, I get it. And, thank you, but I'm perfectly okay."**

"**Mhm." Dean doesn't believe him.**

"Don't listen to him, Dean. You need to help him," Jess told him.

"You know they can't –" David cut off as she glared at him. "I said nothing."

**Sam clears his throat and reaches for a map with coordinates. "Where are we?"**

"**We are just outside of Grand Junction."**

"**You know what? Maybe we shouldn't have left Stanford so soon."**

"**Sam, we dug around there for a week, we came up with nothing. If you want to find the thing that killed Jessica –" Dean watches the road.**

"**We gotta find Dad first," Sam is staring at the map still.**

"**Dad disappearing, and this thing showing up again after twenty years? It's no coincidence. Dad'll have answers, he'll know what to do." Dean sounds sure of it.**

"They have a lot of confidence in their father," Lizzie noted.

"They grew up trusting that he knew the answer to everything," Mary responded. "He was their safety."

"**It's weird, man. These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge."**

"**What about it?"**

"**There's nothing there. It's just woods. Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?" Dean doesn't answer.**

**The brothers are at a Ranger's Station, where Sam is looking at a more detailed map of the area. Blackwater Ridge is a remote area, cut off by canyons, with rough terrain, dense forests, and abandoned mines.**

**Dean cuts off Sam's report about the area. "Dude, check out the size of this friggen bear," he says, looking at a picture. The bear is massive. Sam comes over to look with him.**

"**And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area," he finishes off. "It's no nature hike, that's for sure."**

"**You boys aren't planning to go out by Blackwater Ridge by any chance?" The Winchesters turn, startled, to face the man who must be a Ranger.**

"**Oh, no sir," Sam lies. "We're environmental study majors from UC Boulder. Just working on a paper."**

"**Recycle man," Dean contributes.**

"Subtle Dean," Cassandra laughed.

"**Bull," the ranger says.**

"Well that was fast," Brady said.

**Sam looks at Dean, and Dean watches the ranger. "Your friends with that Haley girl, right?"**

**Dean considers for a moment before confirming that this is true.**

The group laughed. He just bounced so easily from one lie to the next.

"**Well I will tell you exactly what I told her," the ranger starts. "Her brother filled out a back country permit saying he wouldn't be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth. So it's not exactly a missing persons now, is it?" Dean shakes his head once. "Tell that girl to quit worrying. I'm sure her brother's just fine." Ranger Wilkinson walks away.**

"Or he was eaten," Cassandra said darkly. "Why doesn't anyone believe people when they're in trouble?" she asked at large.

"Not everyone is an expert on horror like you are," David joked.

"**We will," Dean assures him. "Well that Haley girl's quite a pistol, huh?"**

"**That is putting it mildly."**

"**Actually, you know what would help is if I could show her a copy of that back country permit, you know, so she could see her brother's return date."**

**Sam and Dean leave the station. Dean is laughing while folding up the permit.**

"**What, are you cruising for a hookup or something?" Sam asks.**

"**What do you mean?"**

"**The coordinates point to Blackwater Ridge, so what are we waiting for? Let's just go find Dad. I mean, why even talk to this girl?" Sam sounds frustrated.**

"Doesn't sound like Sam to just go rushing into things," Jess said uncertainly.

"**I don't know," Dean says from one side of the Impala. "Maybe we should know what we're walking into before we actually walk into it?" Dean has a look of disbelief on his face.**

"**What?" Sam asks, after a pause in which Dean stares at him.**

"**Well since when are you all shoot first, ask questions later anyway?"**

"Well I'm glad that didn't change. Well, I mean, I'm glad that I knew _something _about him that his brother knew too. Even if it's apparently wrong," Jess muttered.

"**Since now," Sam replies, and he gets into the car.**

"**Oh really?" Dean says to himself, following suit.**

**There is a knock on a door and a young woman opens it.**

"**You must be Haley Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam. We're rangers with the park service," Dean introduces them.**

"Again with the lies?" David asked in disbelief.

"**Ranger Wilkinson sent us over and we wanted to ask you some questions about your brother, Tommy?"**

"**Let me see some I.D." Haley says after she looks them over.**

**Dean pulls out a piece of I.D. that passes the test as Haley lets them in. When she opens the door, she sees the Impala on the curb. "That yours?" she asks Dean.**

"**Yeah," he says with pride.**

"**Nice car." Dean turns to mouth something to Sam who just rolls his eyes.**

"Yes! Someone else who appreciates what a fine specimen that is!" David cheered.

Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

"You know, we were supposed to own a van," Mary informed him. "Someone showed up and convinced my husband that the Impala would be a better car though."

"Yeah, a _smart_ someone," David retorted.

Mary laughed. If only he knew.

**In the dining room, Sam starts collecting information. "So if Tommy's not back for awhile, how do you know something's wrong?"**

"**He checks in everyday by cell," Haley answers, carrying in a bowl and a pot and setting them on the table where another young man is sitting. "He emails, photos, stupid little videos. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now."**

"Wow. Possessive or overprotective much?" Lizzie said.

"**Well maybe he can't get cell reception?" Sam offers.**

**Haley shakes her head. "He's got a satellite phone too."**

Brady whistled.

"**Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in?"**

"**He wouldn't do that," says the young man.**

"**Our parents are gone," Haley says. "It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other."**

"I guess that makes sense…" David said.

"**Can I see the pictures he sent you?" Sam asks.**

"**Yeah," Haley shows them several pictures of Tommy, and then the video from day six. Sam seems to notice something in the video. **

"What'd you find, Sammy?" David said in a sing-song voice.

"**Well we'll find your brother," Dean says. "We're heading over to Blackwater Ridge first thing." **

"**Then maybe I'll see you there," Haley answers. Sam and Dean share a look. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore so I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."**

"**I think I know how you feel," Dean looks at her appreciatively.**

"**Hey, you mind forwarding these to me?" Sam interjects. Haley says that she will.**

**Sam and Dean are in a bar, discussing the case.**

"**So, Blackwater Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic. Local campers mostly," Sam says, digging through his bag. "But still, it's past April, two hikers went missing out there and they were never found." He opens a book to reveal some notes and articles. **

**Sam notices something and asks Haley to forward them to him. **

Brady shivered. "I'm glad my family managed to avoid whatever's out there."

"Me too," Jess smiled at him.

He smiled back at her tentatively.

"**Any before that?" Dean asks.**

"**Yeah. In 1982, up to eight people all vanished in the same year." Sam hands Dean the article, 'Grizzly Bear Attacks! Up to Eight Hikers Vanish in Lost Creek Area Hikers Disappearance Baffle Authorities'. "Authorities say it was a grizzly attack. And again in 1959, and again before that in 1936." Sam pulls out his laptop to the video of Tommy that had him puzzled earlier. "Every twenty-three years. Just like clockwork."**

"How is it that the police or whoever, never notice these things?" Lizzie asked. "Shouldn't they be looking out for patterns?"

"In the middle of the woods though? They're not going to expect abductions or anything like that," Mary reminded her. "People usually either overlook the strange circumstances, or give it a natural beginning."

**Okay, watch this. Here's a clincher," Sam draws Dean's attention to the video. "I downloaded that guy, Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." Sam moves frame-by-frame and there is a shadow moving behind the tent. Sam repeats it when Dean asks him to. "That's three frames. It's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move."**

"Wow that's fast," David gapped.

"Thanks, Sherlock," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

**Dean smacks Sam's arm. "I told you something weird was going on."**

"**Yeah," Sam closes the laptop. "I got one more thing. In '59, one camper survived the supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barley crawled out of the woods alive."**

"**Is there a name?"**

"**Look ranger, I don't know why you're asking me about this." Sam and Dean follow an older man into a cabin. "It's public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a –"**

"**Grizzly?" Sam interrupts. The man pauses. "That's what attacked them?" The man pulls his cigarette out of his mouth and nods.**

"**The other people that went missing that year; those were bear attacks too?" Dean asks, stepping towards the man. "What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?" Dean waits a moment. "If we knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it."**

"How does anyone believe them?" Lizzie had her answer in the next sentence. Nobody really did.

"**I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don't see what difference it would make. You wouldn't believe me. Nobody ever did." He is settled in a chair.**

"**Mr. Shaw," Sam says, stepping forward. He sits by Mr. Shaw. "What did you see?"**

"Look at those puppy eyes!" Lizzie said in wonder. "Honestly, it's amazing! How did you ever say no to him?" she asked Jess.

Jess laughed. "It didn't happen very often."

"**Nothing," Mr. Shaw says. "It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it though. A roar. Like no man or animal I ever heard."**

"**It came at night?" Sam asked. Shaw nodded. "Got inside your tent?"**

"**It got inside our cabin," Shaw corrected. **

"That's crazy," said Brady.

"**I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn't smash a window or break the door. It unlocked it." The boys shift, unsettled.**

"Okay, if they're uncomfortable with that, then _I'm _uncomfortable with that. They're the experts." Cassandra shuddered. "What could it be that could unlock a door, move really fast, and can hide really well? How do you even start to hunt something like that?"

"**You know a bear that could do something like that? I didn't even wake up until I heard my parents screaming."**

"**It killed them?" Sam questioned.**

"**It dragged them off into the night. Why it left me alive, I've been asking myself that ever since. Did leave me this, though," Shaw pulls back his collar to reveal nasty claw marks. "There's something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon."**

The students shuddered at the mention of a demon. "It couldn't be though, right? I mean, they wouldn't leave claw marks like that," David asked uncertainly.

"No," Mary answered. It's definitely not a demon."

The room sighed in relief.**  
*****

"**Spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors if they want inside, they just go through the walls," Dean is saying as the brothers walk down a hallway.**

"**So it's probably something else, something corporeal."**

"**Corporeal? Excuse me, professor," Dean snarks.**

"**Shut up. So what do you think?"**

"**The claws, the speed that it moves… Could be a skinwalker, could be a black dog. Whatever we're talking about, we're talking about a creature and it's corporeal. Which means we can kill it." Dean walks away and after a moment, Sam follows.**

"That's a comforting thought," Brady said sarcastically. "What about everything else it can do?"

**Dean goes outside and opens the trunk of the Impala. He senses something and pauses, turning around to survey. Deciding that there was nothing that needs his attention, he turns back to the trunk and pulls open a bag, throwing weapons in it.**

"**We can not let that Haley girl go out there," Sam says as he joins Dean.**

"**Oh yeah? What're we gonna tell her? She can't go into the woods because of a big, scary monster?"**

"**Yeah."**

"**Her brother's missing, Sam. She's not just gonna sit this out," Dean seems to be talking from experience. **

"It's just like their father. There's no way that they would just give up looking for him and let someone else do it," Cassandra said quietly.

"**No, we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend." Dean takes the bag out of the trunk.**

"**So finding Dad's not enough?" Sam drops the gun holding up the trunk and shuts it. "Now we gotta babysit too?" The boys stare at each other. "What?"**

"**Nothing." Dean throws the bag at Sam.**

"**I'll tell you again, I don't think Ben should come," a man who must be the guide says to Haley. She is dressed in shorts, a long sleeve shirt and hiking boots.**

"**Roy," Haley starts.**

"**Look, you're paying me good money to keep everybody safe, I think Ben's safest at home."**

"He's probably right. After all, Tommy went missing in the woods, not at home," Lizzie said.

"Yeah, but she's worried enough about one brother. At least she can keep an eye on this one," Cassandra replied.

**The Impala comes around the bend and Haley, Ben and Roy watch it pull up. Haley steps forward and shakes her head.**

"**You guys got room for two more?" Dean asks, while Sam pulls their bag out of the back seat.**

"**Wait, you want to come with us?" Haley asks.**

"**Who are these guys?" Roy interjects.**

"**Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue."**

"**You're rangers?" Roy questions doubtfully.**

"**That's right," Dean replies.**

"**And you're hiking out in biker boots and jeans?" Haley is skeptical.**

**Dean looks down, "Oh sweetheart, I don't do shorts."**

"But imagine if he did," Lizzie said, her eyes going out of focus.

"Quit that," Jess smacked her arm.

"**You think this is funny? It's dangerous back country out there. Her brother might be hurt."**

"**Believe me, I know how dangerous it can be. We just want to help her find her brother, that's all."**

**There is a mineshaft with sunlight coming in through the roof. Tommy's wrists are tied over his head. He is covered in dirt, but seems to be all right. There are other ropes and clothing hanging and Gary is tied up like Tommy. The creature approaches him and there is the sound of tearing flesh and Gary's screams. Tommy's face contorts as he tries not to cry out.**

"Oh my gawd, that's horrible!" Lizzie gasped. Cassandra's hand flew to her mouth and the others looked like they wanted to be sick.

"I'm never going camping again," Brady said weakly. "Never mind the already dead thing."

**The rescue party is hiking through the woods.**

"**Roy, you said you did a little hunting," Dean tries to start a conversation.**

"**Yeah, more than a little."**

"**Uh huh. What kind of furry little creatures did you hunt?"**

"**Mostly buck, sometimes bear."**

"**Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?" Roy grabs Dean's jacket and pulls him back. Everyone stops to watch. "What'cha doin', Roy?"**

**In answer, Roy picks up a stick and jabs it down where Dean was about to step. A bear trap closes over it. Roy smiles. "You should watch where you're stepping. Ranger." Dean is somewhat embarrassed.**

"That's a little embarrassing," David said. "You're slipping up Deano." There was a pause when everyone looked at him. "What? If we're gonna call Sam, Sammy, then Dean needs a nickname too. And you can sing Deano better than Dean."

"**A bear trap," he tells the rest of the group sheepishly. They walk by, Sam staring at the trap.**

"**You didn't bring any provisions," Haley says to Dean, concerned. "You guys are carrying a duffle bag. You're not rangers. Who the hell are you?" She grabs his arm and spins him around. Dean nods to Sam to keep going.**

"So, do they do this nonverbal thing all the time?" Jess asked no one in particular.

"Looks like it," Cassandra said. "How they managed so long without each other, I don't know and this is only the second time we've seen them together."

"**Sam and I are brothers. And we're looking for our father. He might be here, we don't know. I just figured that you and me, we're in the same boat."**

"**Why didn't you just tell me that from the start?"**

"Oh, because we like lying and seeing how long it takes everyone to figure us out?"

"**I'm telling you now. Besides, it's probably the most honest I've ever been with a woman. Ever. So we okay?"**

"**Yeah," Haley says after a pause. "Okay."**

"**And what do you mean I didn't pack provisions?" Dean asks, managing to sound hurt. He pulls out a bag of M&M's. With a smirk, he turns and keep walking. Haley just watches him.**

"Those are great provisions," Brady said in wonder.

"**This is it, Blackwater Ridge," Roy announces.**

"**What coordinates are we at?" Sam asks, stepping past Roy.**

"**35, -111."**

**Dean joins Sam, and they look around. They see nothing but trees.**

"**Do you hear that?" Dean asks Sam.**

Everyone goes silent, but they hear nothing. Confused, they keep watching.

"**Yeah. Not even crickets."**

"Ohhhhh."

"**I'm going to go take a look around," Roy says.**

"**You shouldn't go off by yourself," Sam argues.**

"**That's sweet. Don't worry about me." Roy leaves.**

"Yeah, don't listen to the professionals," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"They don't know, remember?" David reminded her.

"**All right, everybody stays together," Dean orders. "Let's go." They follow Roy.**

"**Haley, over here!" Roy calls. The group runs over to find the campsite. It's in complete disarray. The tents are torn, everything is scattered and there is lots of blood. Haley looks in horror, while Dean is critical.**

"**Tommy?" Haley takes off her backpack. "Tommy? Tommy?!"**

"**Shh," Sam runs over to her.**

"**Why?"**

"**Something might still be out there."**

"**Sam!" Dean calls. Sam goes away from the camp to find Dean crouching, staring at some tracks.**

"**The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here the tracks just vanish. It's weird. I'll tell you what. It's no skinwalker or black dog." Dean walks back to the others. After a moment, Sam follows.**

**Haley finds Tommy's phone. It's cracked and covered in blood. Dean comes up and crouches beside her. "Hey, he could still be alive," he tells her. She looks at him with tears in her eyes.**

"**Help!" Somebody yells. Immediately the group stands up to see where the sound is coming from. Roy and Dean are both carrying guns and they lead the way. They end up in a clearing, and there is no one in sight.**

"**It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn't it?" Haley asks.**

"What? That's so weird," David stared.

"**Everybody back to camp," Sam orders. They arrive back in camp where all their items have disappeared.**

"**What's going on?" Haley asks.**

"**It's smart. It wants to cut us off so we can't call for help," Sam explains.**

"**You mean someone. Some nutjob out there just stole all our gear," Roy corrects.**

"**I need to speak with you," Sam whispers urgently to Dean. "In private."**

**Away from the others, Sam turns to Dean. "Okay, let me see Dad's journal." Dean hands it over and Sam starts flipping through pages. "All right, check that out." He holds it out to Dean.**

"**Dude, come on," Dean says, glancing at the page. "Wendigos are in the Minnesota woods, or – or Northern Michigan. I've never even heard of one this far west."**

"**Think about it, Dean. The claws, the way it can mimic a human voice."**

"**Great. Well then this is useless," Dean holds up his gun.**

"What?" Jess asked nervously. "So they have no weapons? Nothing to protect them?"

**Sam starts walking back to camp, thrusting the journal into Dean's chest. "We've got to get these people to safety.**

"Ahh, there's Sammy," David sighed. "Always looking out for others."

"**All right, listen up, it's time to go," Sam commands, walking back into camp. "Things have gotten more complicated.**

"**What?" Haley demands.**

"**Kid, don't worry, whatever's out there, I think I can handle it," Roy says confidently.**

"**It's not me I'm worried about. If you shoot this thing you're just going to make it mad. We have to leave. Now."**

"**One, you're talking nonsense. Two, you're in no position to be giving anyone orders." Roy argues.**

"**Relax," Dean speaks up.**

"**We never should've let you come out here in the first place, all right?" Sam continues. "We're trying to protect you."**

"**You, protect me?" Roy says, outraged, moving closer to Sam, who stays his ground. "I was hunting these woods when you're mommy was still kissing you goodnight."**

"**Yeah? It's a damn near perfect hunter. It's smarter than you. And it's going to hunt you down and eat you alive unless we can get your stupid sorry ass outta here."**

**Roy laughs in Sam's face. "You know you're crazy, right?"**

"**Yeah? You ever hunt a wen– " Dean grabs Sam and pushes him back, effectively cutting him off. Sam is furious.**

"**Chill out," Dean orders him.**

"**Stop. Stop it. Everybody just stop." Haley takes control. "Look, Tommy might still be alive. And I'm not leaving here without him." Dean and Sam look at each other.**

"**It's getting late," Dean starts. "This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We'll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves." Roy looks unimpressed.**

"**How?" Haley asks.**

"At least_ someone's _going to listen to reason," Jess fumed. All Sam and Dean were trying to do was protect everyone and Roy was just getting in the way. Everyone had to keep reminding themselves that Roy didn't know that there was anything other than a bear out there.

**At night, there is a fire going, and Dean is drawing symbols in the dirt with a stick. Roy is keeping watch.**

"**One more time, that's –"**

"**Anasazi symbols. It's for protection. The wendigo can't cross over them." Roy laughs. "Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy," Dean says mildly, getting up. He drops his stick by the fire and goes to Sam who's a little ways away.**

"**You want to tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours?" Dean asks him, sitting down.**

"**Dean," Sam starts.**

**Dean shakes his head. "No, you're not fine. You're like a powder keg, man. It's not like you. I'm supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?"**

"**Dad's not here," Sam begins. "I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would've left us a message, a sign, right?"**

"I've never seen him look so lost," Jess said sadly.

"**Yeah, you're probably right. Tell you the truth, I don't think Dad's ever been to Lost Creek." Sam looks at Dean.**

"**Then let's get these people back to town, and let's hit the road. Go find Dad. I mean why are we still even here?" Sam throws a stick down in frustration.**

**Dean moves so he's sitting in front of Sam instead of beside him, forcing Sam to look at him. He pulls the journal out and pats the top of it.**

"**This is why. This book." Dean taps it again with his finger. "This is Dad's single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he's passed it on to us." Sam looks up. "I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. Saving people, hunting things, the family business."**

"**That makes no sense," Sam runs his hands over his face. He seems lost and confused. "Why? Why doesn't he just call us? Why doesn't he tell us what he wants? Tell us where he is?"**

"**I don't know," Dean replies. "But the way I see it, Dad's given us a job to do, and I intend to do it."**

"**Dean," Sam shakes his head. "No. I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica's killer. It's the only thing I can think about." His eyes are oddly bright.**

Jess felt tears in her eyes at that. She just wanted to be able to comfort him. She wanted to tell him that it was all right, that he didn't have to go on a revenge hunt. That it wasn't worth the pain he was in.

"**Okay, all right. Sam we'll find them, I promise. Listen to me. You've gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take awhile. And all that anger, you can't keep it burning over the long-haul. It's going to kill you. You gotta have patience, man."**

"**How do you do it?" Sam asks his big brother, looking like a lost kid. "How does Dad do it?"**

**Dean looks towards the group at the fire. "Well for one, them." Sam glances over to see Haley and Ben talking to each other. "I mean I figure our family's so screwed to hell maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little bit more bearable. I'll tell you what else helps." Sam focuses on Dean. "Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can." Dean smiles slightly at his brother, and Sam finally smiles back.**

"Wow, he actually got him to smile," Lizzie said, surprised. "And Dean was really understanding."

"If there was anyone who could understand him right now, it's his big brother," Mary told them. "The boys have been through a lot, with only each other and their father to support them. And Dean has been Sam's biggest support through everything. While Dean may seem rude and aloof and uncaring, if there was anything that could turn him into a softy, it's his brother. All Sam has to do is frown and Dean will do anything to see him smile again. If there's one thing everyone knows after meeting them, it's that you don't hurt one, because the other one will be right there, fighting back."

Jess smiled. "I'm glad Sam has Dean then. And it seems like Dean needs Sam too."

"He does," Mary confirmed. "Like two sides of the same coin."

**The moment is interrupted by a yell, "Help me!" The boys pull out flashlights and look around. "Please! Help!"**

"**It's trying to draw us out. Stay cool, stay put."**

"**Inside the magic circle?" Roy asks sarcastically.**

"**Help! Help me!" The yells are cut off and they heard a loud growl.**

"**Okay, that's no grizzly," Roy says. He walks over to some bushes. There is a quiet moment and Haley reassures Ben that Tommy will be all right.**

**A sudden snarl. "He's here." The sounds are coming from all around the camp. The bushes rustle as something moves through them. Roy shoots but hits nothing. Roy shoots again and there is a pained cry.**

"Didn't they say shooting it would only make it angry?" Brady said, paling.

"Yeah," Cassandra replied, shakily. "If he stays in the circle he should be fine… I think…"

"**I hit it!" Roy calls triumphantly. He goes after it into the woods.**

"Okay, or he's not going to be fine at all," Cassandra corrected herself.

"**Roy, no!" Dean shouts after him. "Roy!" He orders Haley and Ben not to move as he chases after Roy with Sam on his heels.**

"**It's over here! It's in the trees!" Hands come down from the tree Roy is standing beside and breaks his neck before hauling him up.**

"**Roy?!" Dean yells. Silence.**

**In the morning, Sam is sitting against a stump with his Dad's journal. **

Jess sighed. He was so alone and something was still bothering him. He needed to know that Dean was there for him, that he could confide in him.

"**I don't –," Haley starts again. "I mean, these things aren't supposed to be real." Dean drags his fingers over claw marks on a tree.**

"**I wish I could tell you different."**

"**How do we know it's not out there, watching us?"**

"**We don't." Dean is matter-of-fact. "But we're safe for now."**

"**How do you know about this stuff?" Haley asks Dean.**

**He considers for a moment. "It kind of runs in the family." He walks away.**

"**Hey," Sam says, joining them. "So, we've got half a chance in the daylight. And I, for one, want to kill this evil son of a bitch." Dean looks at him, proud.**

"**Well, hell you know I'm in."**

"**Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means 'evil that devours'," Sam explains to Ben and Haley, showing them the journal.**

"**They're hundreds of years old," Dean intercepts. "Each one was once a man. Sometimes an Indian or other times a frontiersman or a miner or a hunter."**

"Okay, that's just creepy," David shook his head.

"**How's a man turn into one of those things?" Haley asks.**

"**It's always the same. During some harsh winter, a guy finds himself starving. Cut off from supplies, or help. Becomes a cannibal to survive, eating other members of his tribe or camp."**

"**Like the Donner party," Ben supplies.**

**Sam takes over again, "Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality."**

"**If you eat enough of it," Dean continues, "over years you become this less-than-human thing. You're always hungry."**

"**So if that's true, how can Tommy still be alive?"**

**Dean looks at Sam who motions for Dean to explain. "You're not gonna like it."**

"**Tell me."**

"**More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time. When it's awake, it keeps its victims alive and, uh, stores them. So it can feed whenever it wants." Haley and Ben look at each other. "If your brother's alive it's keeping him somewhere dark, hidden and safe. We gotta track it back there."**

"**And then how do we stop it?"**

"**Well. Guns are useless. So are knives." Ben looks discouraged. "Basically," Dean holds up a beer, bottle, a cloth and lighter fluid, "we gotta torch the sucker."**

"At least they have a plan," Cassandra declared, "And they have a way to kill it."

**Dean is leading the group through the trees, holding the beer bottle and cloth. There are more bloody claw marks. Sam draws his attention to many more, higher up on trees.**

"**You know, I was thinking, those paw prints so clear and distinct. They were almost too easy to follow."**

"Ah," David's eyes widened.

**There is a growling noise. A figure runs around them in circles. Blood drops down on Haley and she looks up. Roy falls as she screams and steps away. Sam helps Haley up from the ground as the growling gets closer.**

"**Run, run!" Dean urges. The group makes a break for it. Ben falls and Sam goes back, helping him up.**

"Sam!" Jess cried nervously.

"He's gonna be okay," Lizzie tried to assure her.

**Dean and Haley are suddenly stopped by the creature. Haley screams. Ben and Sam run faster.**

"**Haley!" Ben calls. Sam reaches down and picks up the cloth and piece of the bottle.**

"**Dean!" Sam yells, looking around.**

"Oh no, not good. Not good at all. They're separated," Cassandra wailed. "It's never good if they're separated."

"Sh," Jess silenced her. "They're going to be okay. Everyone's going to be okay."

"**If it keeps its victims alive, why did it kill Roy?" Ben asks Sam as they walk through the woods.**

"**Honestly? I think because Roy shot at it. Pissed it off."**

**Ben stops and picks something up off the ground. An M&M. "They went this way," he tells Sam, giving him the candy.**

"**It's better than bread crumbs," Sam throws it away, grinning.**

"That was pretty ingenious," Brady admitted.

**They follow the trail to a mine, with a sign posted, 'Warning! Danger! Do not enter! Extremely toxic material'.**

"Of course they shouldn't enter," David rolled his eyes.

**Sam enters, and Ben follows, both of them looking around. They follow a set of tracks and hear a growl. Sam pulls Ben to the side and hides his light. The creatures leaves the tunnel. Ben starts to make a noise and Sam clamps his hand over his mouth. Their steps creak and they pause before the floor gives way and they fall through.**

Everyone paled.

"This is the part where one of them, probably Sam, breaks his leg and can't fight it off and they both die trying to get out," Cassandra started rambling.

"Cassie," Jess shushed her. "You're not helping."

"**Hey, it's okay, it's okay," Sam reassures Ben. Sam glances around and finds Dean and Haley tied by the wrists. "Dean. Dean." Dean starts to wake up, blinking. "Are you okay?"**

"**Yeah."**

"**Haley. Haley. Wake up. Wake up," Ben pleads. Sam gets Dean down as Ben gets Haley down. They remove the bonds and Haley sees Tommy. She starts crying and immediately moves towards him.**

"**Tommy. Tommy." Tommy opens his eyes and gasps. Haley steps back with a startled cry. "Cut him down," she tells Sam.**

"Yeah! They found everyone and they're all alive!" David cheered.

"They still have to get out though," Brady reminded him.

**Dean goes through the bag he's sitting beside and pulls out two guns. "Check it out."**

**Sam looks over. "Flare guns. Those'll work," Sam grins. Dean smiles back.**

"Finally, good luck!" Lizzie sighed. She felt like they weren't going to get much of that, watching the Winchester's lives.

**They begin to exit the mine, Dean leading the way, followed by Sam, Tommy who's leaning on Haley, and Ben. There is a growl and Sam raises his gun.**

"**Looks like someone's home for supper," Dean says.**

"**We'll never outrun it," Haley declares.**

"Why are they talking so loudly?" Cassandra asked. "It's going to hear them!"

**Dean looks at them all and comes to a decision. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" he asks Sam.**

"**Yeah I think so," Sam replies.**

"**All right, listen to me," Dean turns to the Collins'. "Stay with Sam, he's going to get you outta here."**

"**What are you gonna do?" Haley asks. Dean winks at her, and moves away from them.**

"**Chow time you freaky monster!" Dean yells into the mine. Haley looks after him in disbelief. "Yeah, that's right! Bring it on, baby! I taste **_**good**_**!" He motions for them to go. Sam leads them out, keeping his gun at the ready.**

"Does he have a death wish?" Cassandra asked.

**Dean is still yelling, keeping his eyes open.**

"Definitely," David replied to Cassandra's question.

**Sam and the Collins' hear the growls and Sam tells them to go, the exit is right there.**

"It would ignore Dean to go after Sam," Jess said nervously. "Get out of there!"

**He moves back against the wall and waits for it. There is a snap behind him and he turns quickly. The wendigo is right there. He fires at it and flings himself away.**

"No! Sam!" Everyone watched, tense. They breathed in relief as Sam appeared, running up the tunnel.

**Haley and her brothers hear the shots and she calls out for Sam, worried. He comes running down the track and pushes them forward. The wendigo is following. They hit a dead end.**

"**Behind me," Sam places himself between them and the wendigo and it comes into view. It roars.**

"Sam," Jess whimpered. She knew that Sam would never let something hurt someone and he would always place himself in danger first, but he should still think of himself.

"**Hey!" Dean yells, coming from behind.**

Everyone sighed in relief.

**The creatures turns to him, and Dean shoots. The fire flares up in the creature and it is soon dead. "Not bad, huh?" he asks with a smirk. Haley looks impressed and Sam just grins.**

"That was terrifying," Lizzie stated.

"No way!" David grinned. "That was awesome!"

"We saw you hugging yourself, you can't lie to us," Cassandra poked him.

"He totally wasn't," Brady said.

"Damn straight. Thanks man."

"Hey, we gotta stick together."

**Ben and Sam are talking to rangers outside the station, telling them that it was a grizzly attack.**

"**So really, I don't know how to thank you," Haley says to Dean. They are both bandaged up. Dean smirks at her. "Must you cheapen the moment?"**

"**Yeah!" Dean replies, smiling.**

The group laughed. Now that they had seen the softer side of Dean, they were beginning to actually like him.

"**You riding with your brother?" a paramedic asks Haley.**

"**Yeah." Sam and Ben come over. "Let's go," she tells her brother. He nods. Haley leans forward and kisses Dean's cheek. "I hope you find your father." Dean nods. "Thanks Sam," she puts her arm around Ben and they walk away. Sam and Dean lean against the Impala.**

"**Man I hate camping," Dean complains.**

"**Me too."**

"**Sam, you know we're going to find Dad, right?"**

"**Yeah," Sam nods. "I know. But in the meantime, I'm driving." There is a moment where Sam looks at Dean and Dean stares straight ahead, making his decision. Then he throws the keys to Sam, who happily takes them. They walk to their respective sides and shut their doors in unison. Sam drives off.**

**Night turns into morning, and the boys have the open road to themselves.**

"I really hope they find him soon," Jess said. "I wonder why he left in the first place."

"Do we find out soon?" Cassandra asked Mary.

"I'm not going to tell you that," Mary laughed. "That would give everything away."

Brady stayed silent. He knew whereabouts John was at that point, but only because of the demon. He didn't know too much more though – he had met a hunter and that had been the end of it really. He just hadn't existed anymore.

"Let's keep going then," Lizzie said.

"You know what I like about being dead?" David asked them. Everyone shook their heads. "We don't need to sleep or eat, or go to the bathroom or stretch. Now that I think about it, it was so _tiring _having to pee all the time!"

The rest of the group rolled their eyes but laughed in agreement.

"Okay, let's start the nextone."


	4. Dead in the Water

**A/N: Here we are: "Dead in the Water". Talk to me! Tell me what you liked, what you didn't like.**

**But I do want to say thank you to all of those who have followed this story, added it to their favourites, and reviewed so far! All of it is much appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I don't own characters. Or the show. Or Kripke. You know.**

* * *

**Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin:**

"**Morning Daddy," a young blonde says, walking into the kitchen. She kisses the back of his head.**

"**Morning, sweetheart," he replies, reading his paper.**

**A young man is sitting on a counter, eating cereal. "All these workouts Soph, I dunno. Guys don't like buff girls."**

"She's not buff, she's fit!" Jess said indignantly.

"Yeah! Why shouldn't we be buff anyway!" Lizzie joined in.

"What they said!" Cassandra added. Mary found herself nodding along.

"**Yeah, well, girls don't like guys who still live at home," she says back.**

"Burn!" David shouted.

**The young man laughs sarcastically, and she returns it before leaving out the back door, to her father's cautionary, "Be careful."**

"**I will," she replies.**

**She dives into the lake from a dock for a swim. She senses something and looks around. Nothing but water and the surrounding forest. There is something coming up from below. She starts swimming, and comes up when she senses something again. There is weird whispering and she keeps looking around. Something pulls her under and there are only bubbles.**

"Now I'm never going to go swimming again!" Lizzie complained.

"Oh drats," Cassandra said dryly. "Since we're in heaven anyway…"

"Oh shut up, you know what I mean," Lizzie stuck out her tongue.

**At The Lynnwood Inn, Dean is going over newspaper articles. He circles a picture of a young woman – the girl who went missing earlier. "Can I get you anything else?" a young blonde waitress asks him. He smiles at her, debating.**

Brady and David both wolf whistled while the girls collectively groaned.

**Sam comes back and sits down, "Just the check, please."**

"Cock block! I don't believe it! Sam!" David howled.

"I can't believe he just did that to his own brother!" Brady chimed in.

"**Okay," she walks away, smiling at Dean.**

"He's still got a chance," David breathed in.

**Dean bows his head in frustration. "You know, Sam, we are allowed to have fun once in awhile." He points to the waitress, walking away in short shorts. "That's fun." Sam just looks at him. **

"Or not," Brady sighed.

"**Here," Dean hands him the newspaper he was looking over. "Take a look at this. Think I got one. Lake Manitoc, Wisconsin. Last week Sophie Carlton, eighteen, walks into the lake, doesn't walk out." Sam looks from the article to his brother. "Authorities dragged the water. Nothing. Sophie Carlton is the third Lake Manitoc drowning this year. None of the other bodies were found either. They had a funeral two days ago."**

"**A funeral?" Sam asks, confused.**

"**Yeah, it's weird they buried an empty coffin. For, uh, closure or whatever."**

"Does anyone else think this won't go well?" Cassandra asked.

"Dean's doing what he can," Mary said softly. She hated it when they fought. Where she was watching them herself in heaven, Sam had just jumped into the pit. Knowing that and going back to watch this all over again, she really wished it could all go differently.

"**Closure?" Sam says. "What closure? People don't just disappear, Dean. Other people just stop looking for them." Sam seems to be implying something.**

"He's doing what he can," Jess said, pain in her voice. "Please don't pick a fight."

"You know," Lizzie offered, "I've never seen him so angry. I mean, he was so even tempered at school."

"I saw him get angry once," Jess replied. "It was the scariest thing ever. I hadn't thought he could even be that scary."

"What happened?" Lizzie asked, eyes wide.

"We were at a club and some guy was harassing a girl. She kept saying no and she looked away for a moment and the guy slipped something into her drink. I was about to go tell her, but he was already walking over. He looked so – so _dangerous_. And he got right up into the guy's face and, well, I'm just gonna say I don't think the guy ever did anything like that again."

David whistled. "Sam the Man." Everyone else agreed.

**Dean shifts, tensing. "Something you want to say to me?"**

"**Trail for Dad. It's getting colder everyday."**

"**Exactly. So what're we supposed to do?"**

"**I dunno. Something. Anything."**

"**You know what? I'm sick of this attitude. You don't think I want to find Dad as much as you do?"**

"**Yeah, I know you do –"**

"**I'm the one that's been with him every single day for the past two years while you've been off to college going to pep rallies. We will find Dad. But until then, we're going to kill everything bad between here and there. Okay?"**

"Ouch," Cassandra flinched. "That was harsh."

**The brothers stare at each other. They seem to be continuing their argument nonverbally. Finally Sam slumps and rolls his eyes. Dean has obviously won this round.**

"This nonverbal thing is crazy!" Lizzie said.

**The waitress walks by again and Dean watches her, distracted.**

"**All right," Sam tries to pull his attention back. **

"Quit cock blocking!" David tried again. Eyes rolled all around.

"**Lake Manitoc." Dean is still staring at the waitress. "Hey."**

"**Huh?" Dean looks at Sam.**

"**How far?"**

**The boys are driving down back roads.**

**They arrive at the Carlton house, where the brother answers the door.**

"**Will Carlton?"**

"**Yes, that's right."**

"**Agent Ford, and this is Agent Hamill," Dean introduces them. "We're with the U.S. Wildlife Service." Dean holds up a badge.**

"Okay, I'm taking bets," David said. "How long do you think that lie will last?"

"You're on!" Brady agreed, grinning.

"I'm in!" Lizzie bounced excitedly.

"Uh, guys? What exactly are you going to bet with?" Jess asked.

Brady, David and Lizzie all looked at each other for a moment, before collectively calling out, "Bragging rights!"

Mary, Jess and Cassandra watched as they placed their bets, shaking their heads when invited to join.

"I already know," Mary explained.

"That's the perfect reason for you to have bet!" Cassandra told her, shocked.

Mary laughed. "They would've caught on quickly enough."

"**She was about a hundred yards out," Will leads them out back to show them where Sophie was last seen. Her father, Bill, is sitting on a bench on the back dock. **

"The poor man," Mary said. "It's hard enough to have a death in the family, but your child isn't supposed to go before you do." She didn't mention how lucky she was that she hadn't been placed in that position. Her early death had saved her from that. However, if she was alive, they never would've been in place to do the things they had. She pushed the thoughts away to continue watching.

"**It's where she got dragged down."**

"**Are you sure she didn't just drown?" Dean asks.**

"**Yeah, she was a varsity swimmer," Will says, pride evident in his voice. "She practically grew up in that lake. She was as safe out there as she was in her own bathtub."**

"**So, no splashing? No signs of distress?" Sam asks.**

"**No, that's what I'm telling you."**

"**Did you see any shadows in the water? Maybe some dark shape beneath the surface?"**

"**No. Again, she was really far out there."**

"**You ever seen any strange tracks by the shoreline?" Dean asks.**

"**No, never. Why? Why, what do you think's out there?" Will seems worried.**

"**We'll let you know as soon as we do," Dean assures him. He starts walking back to the car.**

"**What about your father?" Sam asks, not quite finished. Dean stops and turns back to listen. "Can we talk to him?"**

**Will turns to look at his father, and then turns back. "Look, if you don't mind, I mean… he didn't see anything and he's kind of been through a lot."**

"Did that seem kind of suspicious to anyone else?" David asked.

"Definitely," Lizzie raised her eyebrows.

"Oh come on," Jess said. "He just lost his daughter. He really is going through a lot."

"**We understand." Sam says, not unkindly, and he and Dean go to the car. Will watches them.**

"**Now I'm sorry, but why does the Wildlife Service care about an accidental drowning?" A sheriff asks Sam and Dean at the police station.**

"This is totally where they get busted!" David laughed, already starting to celebrate.

"It's way too early. They've got nothing yet," Brady informed him.

David stopped celebrating and stared at the screen.

"**You sure it's accidental?" Sam asks him, eyebrows raised. "Will Carlton saw something grab his sister."**

"**Like what?" the sheriff asks. His nametag says 'Devins'. He leads them into his office. "Here, sit, please. There are no indigenous carnivores in that lake," he assures them. "There's nothing even big enough to pull down a person unless it was the Loch Ness Monster."**

**Dean raises his eyebrows, "Yeah," and laughs, "Right."**

"**Will Carlton was traumatized, and sometimes the mind plays tricks. Still…" Devins sits. "We dragged that entire lake. We even ran a sonar sweep, just to be sure, and there was nothing down there."**

"**That's weird though." Dean leans forward. "I mean, that's, that's the third missing body this year."**

"**I know. These are people from my town. These are people I care about."**

"**I know," Dean nods.**

"**Anyway," Devins leans back and sighs. "All this, it won't be a problem much longer."**

"**What do you mean?" Dean asks.**

**Devins looks at him curiously. "Well, the dam of course."**

"Here!" David shouted again.

"Ugh, can we get duct tape or something?" Lizzie complained. "You're not going to win just because you call it every time it's possible."

"**Of course," Dean says, leaning back, trying to look as though he knew what Devins was talking about. "The dam." He looks at Sam who makes an 'of course' gesture. "It sprung a leak."**

"**It's falling apart," corrects Devins. Dean nods, somewhat nervous. "And the feds won't give us the grant to repair it. So they've opened the spillway. And another six months, it won't be much of a lake." Dean eyes him, wondering. "Won't be much of a town, either. But as Federal Wildlife, you already knew that," Devins looks from one brother to the other.**

"Please don't suspect, please don't suspect." Lizzie had bet the middle of the show, or somewhere around there. Brady had bet on the end and David had, of course, bet the beginning.

"**Exactly," Dean says assuredly.**

"**Sorry," a young woman walks in. "Am I interrupting?" Sam and Dean stand up to face her. Dean checks her out. "I can come back later." She goes to leave.**

"**Gentlemen," Devins stands also. "This is my daughter."**

**Dean moves towards her, holding out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you. I'm Dean."**

"With everyone?" Jess rolled her eyes.

"You're just upset that you weren't special," David teased.

Jess smacked the back of his head.

"**Andrea Barr," she smiles widely. "Hi."**

"**Hey." There is mischievous glint in Dean's eyes.**

"**They're from the Wildlife Service. About the lake."**

"I'm pretty sure you lost, man," Brady informed David. David looked like someone had just kicked his puppy.

"**Oh," Andrea's smile disappears. A young boy walks out from behind her back.**

"**Hey there," Dean says to him. "What's your name?" The boy turns and walks away.**

"I hope he's just shy," Jess said sadly.

"Me too," Cassandra agreed.

However, with the way things were happening, it didn't seem likely.

**Andrea follows. Dean looks at Sam who is staring after the woman and her son.**

"**His name is Lucas," Devins supplies.**

"**Is he okay?" Sam asks him.**

"**My grandson's been through a lot. We all have." Sam nods in understanding. "Well, if there's anything else I can do for you, please, let me know," Devins shows them out.**

"**Thanks," Dean says to him. "Hey, you know, now that you mentioned it, could you point us in the direction of a reasonably priced motel?"**

"**Lakefront Motel," Andrea offered. "Go around the corner, it's two blocks up."**

"**Two –" Dean makes a show of trying to figure it out. **

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"**Would you mind showing us?" Sam rolls his eyes.**

"I'm with Sam!" David called.

"I think we all are," Brady informed him.

**Andrea laughs. "You want me to walk you two blocks?"**

"**Not if it's any trouble."**

"**I'm headed that way anyway," Andrea turns to her father. "I'll be back to pick up Lucas at three." She bends down to Lucas. "We'll go to the park, okay sweetie?" She kisses his head and leads the Winchesters out.**

**Dean waves and Sam thanks Devins who watches them go.**

"**So, cute kid," Dean tells Andrea as she leads them down the street.**

"**Thanks."**

"**Kids are the best, huh?" **

"Tell me he did not just say that," Lizzie begged as everyone laughed.

"He did," Mary said through her laughter. "He has as much charm as a snake sometimes."

**Sam laughs at Dean, who shrugs. Andrea is laughing too, but they can't see her.**

"**There is it," she turns towards Dean. "Like I said, two blocks."**

"**Thanks," Sam offers. She's still facing Dean.**

"**Must be hard, with your sense of direction. Never being able to find your way to a decent pickup line." She smiles and walks away, starting to laugh. Dean looks confused. "Enjoy your stay."**

Everyone stared.

"I like her," Lizzie said immediately.

"That was awesome," Jess declared.

"Burn!" David shouted.

"**Kids are the best?" Sam teases. "You don't even like kids."**

"**I love kids!" Dean defends himself.**

"I bet you do," Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"**Name three children that you even know."**

**Dean stops and tries to think of even one. Sam makes an 'I give up' gesture and walks away. Dean scratches his head. "I'm thinking!"**

Everyone laughed again.

"**So there's the three drowning victims this year –" Sam starts. He's sitting in a motel room, looking at his laptop. Dean is behind him, going through clothes, separating between clean and dirty.**

"**And before that?"**

"**Uh, yeah." He's looking at articles online. "Six more spread out over the past thirty-five years. Those bodies were never recovered either. If there is something out there, it's picking up its pace."**

"**So what've we got? A lake monster on a binge?"**

Cassandra shivered. "Lake monsters are nasty. And drowning is one of the worst ways you can go." Everyone looked at her. "What?" she asked defensively. "I was curious one day!"

"**This whole lake monster theory, it just bugs me."**

"_That's_ what bugs you? It's not the fact that there's something going on, that people are dying, no. It's the _theory_," Jess rolled her eyes.

"**Why?" Dean comes over to stand behind Sam.**

"**Loch Ness, Lake Champlain, there are literally hundreds of eyewitness accounts, but here, almost nothing. Whatever it is out there, no one's living to talk about it."**

"Even captives knew about the Black Pearl," Lizzie said, shivering. Everyone now turned to her. "'Pirates' is a great movie!"

"**Wait," Dean points at the screen. "Barr, Christopher Barr. Where have I heard that name before?"**

"**Christopher Barr, the victim in May. Oh, Christopher Barr was Andrea's husband." There is a picture of Lucas accompanying the article.**

"Awe!" Cassandra cooed. "That poor boy! I bet he was traumatized! I couldn't even imagine watching someone like that die now, never mind being a kid."

"**Lucas' father. Apparently he took Lucas out swimming. Lucas was on a floating wooden platform when Chris drowned. Two hours before the kid got rescued." Closer up, Lucas looks terrified. The brothers are sympathetic. Sam runs his fingers through his hair. "Maybe we have an eyewitness after all."**

"**No wonder that kid was so freaked out," Dean observes. "Watching one of your parents die isn't something you just get over."**

The air in the room sobered even more than it had with the mention of Christopher Barr. At least they hadn't known him, and now they were getting to know Mary. Everything was taking on a whole new meaning.

**Sam and Dean head over to the park to find Andrea.**

"**Can we join you?" Sam asks her.**

**Andrea smiles at them, "I'm here with my son."**

**Dean looks over at him. He's not playing with the other kids, but kneeling at a bench and using it as a table to draw on. "Oh, mind if I say hi?" Without waiting for an answer, Dean walks over to him.**

"I think this might be good for Dean," Cassandra said thoughtfully. "He knows the most about what Lucas is going through and can probably get through to him more than others. He's someone who isn't going to force Lucas to do anything because he probably remembers how he first felt."

**Andrea looks up at Sam. "Tell you friend this whole Jerry McGuire thing is not gonna work on me."**

"**I don't think that's what this is about," Sam tells her. Andrea stops smiling.**

"That was blunt," Lizzie said.

Jess laughed. "He's never _not_ just said what was in his head. At least when I knew him. If there was something on his mind, that he wasn't trying to hide, then he said it straight up. That's one of the things I loved about him."

"**How's it going?" Dean asks Lucas, crouching across the bench. Lucas is drawing something and doesn't answer. Besides the paper he's drawing on, there are little army men and crayons scattered everywhere. "Oh, I used to love these things," Dean picks one of the little army men on the bench. He makes little shooting noises and laughs as the 'soldier' dies and he drops it to the bench. "So crayons is more your thing," he tries again. "That's cool. Chicks dig artists." He fingers through some of Lucas' other drawings. A large swirling mass, a red bicycle. "These are pretty good. Mind if I sit and draw with you for awhile? I'm not so bad myself." Dean picks up a crayon and some paper and sits on the bench. "You know, I'm thinking you can hear me. You just don't wanna talk. I don't know exactly what happened to your dad, but I know it was something real bad. I think I know how you feel. When I was your age, I saw something." Dean stops drawing, and looks pensive, remembering his mother's death and the fire. "Anyway, maybe you don't think anyone will listen to you. Or, uh, will believe you. I want you to know that I will. You don't even have to say anything. You could draw me a picture about what you saw that day with your dad. On the lake." Lucas hasn't looked up or acknowledged Dean this entire time. "Okay, no problem. This is for you." He shows Lucas what he drew. "This is my family. That's my dad. That's my mom," his voice catches. "That's my geek brother. And that's me." There is a pause. "All right, so I'm a sucky artist." He drops the crayon. "See you around, Lucas." He puts the paper down next to Lucas, and walks back towards Sam and Andrea. Lucas picks up the drawing.**

Everyone was silent during Dean's talk with Lucas. No one with the exception of Mary could believe what they had just seen, what they had just _heard_.

For all the students there, it put Dean in a totally different light. Sure, they had known that he saw something of the fire that night, that he knew his mom had died in it and on the ceiling, and that he had carried that knowledge with him ever since. But to hear him say it out loud, to hear that pain that was still in his voice and to know that he could connect to this boy about seeing his father drown, it was just stunning.

"Does anyone else feel really, really bad for Dean right now?" David asked quietly, breaking the silence.

They all nodded. Mary was relieved that they had finally seen the softer side of him. He didn't show it often, but when it did it really hit.

**Andrea is talking to Sam when Dean joins them. "Lucas hasn't said a word. Not even to me. Not since his dad's accident."**

**Dean looks at Sam. "Yeah, we heard. Sorry."**

"**What are the doctors saying?" Sam asks Andrea.**

"**That it's a kind of post-traumatic stress." She seems frustrated. Sam shakes his head slightly.**

"**That can't be easy. For either of you."**

"**We moved in with my dad. He helps out a lot. It's just when I think about what Lucas went through, what he saw…" she trails off, looking at Lucas as he gets up.**

"**Kids are strong," Dean tells her, looking at Sam. "You'll be surprised at what they can deal with."**

"**You know, he used to have such life. He was hard to keep up with, to tell you the truth. Now he just sits there, drawing those pictures, playing with those army men. I just wish –" she cuts herself off as Lucas approaches. "Hey sweetie." Lucas hands a drawing to Dean. Andrea looks at Dean in surprise.**

"Wow," Brady said. "That's amazing."

"**Thanks," Dean says, taking the picture. It's a drawing of the Carlton house. "Thanks Lucas." Lucas goes back to the bench. The brothers give each other a look.**

**At the Carlton's house, Bill is sitting in front of the T.V.**

"Oh no, not something else! This family has been through enough!" Cassandra said sternly.

"They can't hear you Cassie," Lizzie said sadly. They all knew what it meant that they were seeing the family again.

"**Dad? You should probably eat something," Will says from a doorway. Bill gives him no response. "I'm going to make some dinner, okay?" Still no response.**

**Will is cleaning some fish and leaves the water running. It goes from clear to muddy. He turns off the water and muddy water starts coming up from the drain and once the sink fills up, it stays there. Will rolls up his sleeve to pull the plug, which must have fallen into the drain. He pulls it up, the water stays. He puts his hand back in to see if there's something clogging the drain. Something pulls him into the water completely. He struggles, but can't pull his head out. He drowns and the water drains.**

"**So," Sam walks into the motel room. "I think it's safe to say we can rule out Nessie."**

"Well that's great," David said sarcastically.

"**What do you mean?"**

"**I just drove past the Carlton house. There was an ambulance there. Will Carlton is dead," he informs Dean. He looks back at Sam, frowning.**

"**He drowned," Dean is in disbelief.**

"**Yup. In the sink."**

"**What the hell? So you're right. This isn't a creature; we're dealing with something else."**

"**Yeah, but what?"**

"**I dunno. Water wraith, maybe? Some kind of demon? I mean, something that controls water." Dean and Sam seem to come to a realization. **

"I still think it's unnatural when they do that," Lizzie professed.

"**Water that comes from the same source," Dean says. **

"**The lake," Sam follows.**

"**Yeah."**

"**Which would explain why it's upping the body count. The lake is draining. It'll be dry in a few months. Whatever this thing is, whatever it wants, it's running out of time."**

"**And if it can get through the pipes, it can get to anyone, almost anywhere. This is going to happen again, soon."**

"It's going to be Andrea," Cassandra groaned.

"Why do you say that?" Jess asked.

"Because she's who Dean's hitting on and he's forming a connection to her son," she responded.

"I think it's going to be Bill, then Andrea," Brady argued. "First, Christopher, then Sophie and Will. It's going after the immediate family of Bill, and the last time we saw him he was on the dock, just sitting there. It's close enough to the water."

"**And we do know one other thing for sure, we do know that this has got something to do with Bill Carlton."**

"**Yeah, it took both his kids," Dean is putting on his boots.**

"**And I've been asking around. Lucas' dad, Chris? Bill Carlton's godson."**

"Damn. Mr. Carlton's been a bad bad boy," David sang out.

"And it adds more reasons on to why it's going to be Andrea. First her husband, then his godfather's children. Since it was something Bill did, it's probably going to go after everyone else first," Cassandra continued her argument.

**Dean stares at Sam a moment. "Let's go pay Mr. Carlton a visit."**

"**Mr. Carlton?" Sam asks. He's sitting on the dock again, staring at nothing. He looks up as the Winchesters approach. "We'd like to ask you a few questions. If you don't mind."**

"**We're from the Department –"**

"**I don't care where you're with," Bill interrupts. "I've answered enough questions today."**

"I can understand that," Mary winced. She could only imagine how many people had wanted to ask him questions from 'what happened' to 'is there anything I can do'. It must have been awful. Of course, her sons needed the information, but she wished they didn't have to bother him.

"**Your son said he saw something in that lake," Sam tries. "What about you? You ever see anything out there?" Sam's voice is soft, comforting. "Mr. Carlton," more urgently this time. "Sophie's drowning and Will's death, we think there might be a connection to you or your family."**

"**My children are gone," Bill says, his voice shaking. "It's – it's worse than dying." There are tears in his eyes. "Go away. Please."**

**Sam and Dean go back to the car. "What do you think?" Sam asks.**

"**I think the poor guy's been through hell," Dean answers. "I also think he's not telling us something."**

"**So now what?" Dean doesn't answer. "What is it?"**

"**Huh." Dean is staring at the Carlton house, the one that Lucas drew him. "Maybe Bill's not the only one who knows something. He takes out Lucas' drawing and he and Sam compare it.**

"That's kind of weird," Brady acknowledged.

"A little," Lizzie shivered.

"**I'm sorry, I just don't think it's a good idea," Andrea tells Dean.**

"**I just need to talk to him, just for a few minutes."**

"**He won't say anything. What good's it going to do?"**

"Can't she see that Dean's helping him?" Cassandra asked, frustrated.

"Hey, calm down. It's not easy for her either," Jess wrapped an arm around Cassandra comfortingly.

"**Andrea," she turns to Sam, "we think more people might get hurt. We think something's happening out there."**

"**My husband, the others, they just drowned. That's all," she says resolutely.**

"**That's what you really believe?" Dean questions. "Then we'll go. But if you think there's even a possibility that something else could be going on here, please let me talk to your son."**

"Thank goodness," Lizzie breathed. "I didn't want to know what Cassie would do if she didn't believe them," she teased gently.

**Andrea relents and shows Sam and Dean to Lucas' room. He's drawing again, surrounded by army men.**

**Dean goes inside. "Hey Lucas. Remember me?" Andrea and Sam watch from the doorway. Dean shifts some papers and there are two more drawings of that red bicycle. "Hey, you know, I uh, wanted to thank you for that last drawing. But the thing is, I need your help again." Lucas is drawing a man in water. Dean pulls out the drawing of the house.**

"**How did you know to draw this? Did you know something bad was going to happen?" Lucas doesn't answer, doesn't look up. "Maybe you could nod, yes or no for me?" Dean waits. "You're scared." He comes to a realization. "It's okay. I understand. See, when I was your age, I saw something real bad happen to my mom." Sam focuses his attention on Dean, listening intently. **

"So Sam doesn't know any of this?" Jess questioned. "Dean never mentioned it?"

"You have to understand that what Dean went through was hard, and he doesn't want anything like that for Sam. Sam grew up with Dean being everything. He was the strong one, the one Sam looked up to. And for Dean to admit that he was scared, well, that's a crack in the appearance he makes for Sam. It also makes him feel vulnerable. John also didn't like to talk about that night and Dean was taught to keep quiet about it," Mary explained.

"That's really sad," Cassandra said.

"Sam needs to know though," Jess looked resolute. "I'm glad he's finding out."

"**And I was scared too. I didn't feel like talking, just like you. But see, my mom I know she wanted me to be brave. I think about that every day."**

Mary felt a tear roll down her face.

"**And I do my best to be brave. And maybe your dad wants you to be brave too." Lucas drops his crayon and finally looks up at Dean. Andrea looks stunned. Lucas grabs a drawing and hands it to Dean. It's a house beside a church. There is a kid leaning against a fence, with a red bicycle. "Thanks, Lucas."**

There was more stunned silence. They just couldn't believe this side of Dean Winchester. The badass, the player, the hunter. And he was this man who was being brave for his _mother_ and his _brother_. It was surreal.

**The Winchesters are driving, Sam studying the picture.**

"**Andrea said the kid never drew like that until his dad died," Dean reasoned.**

"**There are cases – going through a traumatic experience could make people more sensitive to premonitions, psychic tendencies."**

"**Whatever's out there, what if Lucas is tapping into it somehow?" Sam makes a disbelieving noise. "I mean, it's only a matter of time before somebody else drowns, so if you got a better lead, please."**

"**All right, we got another house to find."**

"**The only problem is there's about a thousand yellow two-stories in this county alone."**

"Yeah, but the church…" Brady noticed.

**Sam is looking at the picture. "See this church? I bet there's less than a thousand of those around here," he suggests.**

"Oh I'm good!"

"**Oh college boy thinks he's so smart."**

**Sam laughs, then goes sober. He looks at Dean, deciding what to say. "You know, um, what you said about mom," Dean looks straight ahead. "You never told me that before."**

"**It's no big deal." Sam is staring at Dean and Dean glances over.**

"**Oh God, we're not going to have to hug or anything, are we?" Sam just smiles and looks down.**

"That whole thing and that's the whole conversation?!" Jess said in disbelief.

The others laughed. They were getting used to the way the brothers interacted. It was amusing sometimes – where anyone else would have turned it into a thing, they just seemed to say everything in a moment of silence, in a glance. And the two of them _understood_.

Any of them would love to have a relationship like that – where they didn't even have to speak because they knew each other so well. Where they moved in tandem with each other or spoke at the same time without even realizing it. Sam and Dean were lucky to have each other, especially since everything else seemed to suck.

**They've managed to find a church with a yellow two-story beside it.**

"**We're sorry to bother you ma'am, but does a little boy live here by chance?" Dean asks an older woman, inside the house. "That might wear a blue ball cap, has a red bicycle." This means something to the lady – her eyes go wide and her breathing speeds up.**

"So… Yes?" David asked.

"**No sir," she says, looking down. "Not for a very long time."**

**The woman looks at a picture of a boy. "Peter's been gone for thirty-five years now." She sighs. "The police never – **_**I**_** never had any idea what happened." She turns away from the picture, back to the brothers. "He just disappeared." Sam notices a bunch of army men on a table, and nudges Dean. "Losing him, you know, it's – it's worse than dying," she finished shakily.**

**Dean looks at Sam. It's the same thing Bill said to them.**

"**Did he disappear from here? From this house?"**

"**He was supposed to ride his bike straight home after school, and he never showed up."**

"Parents say that all the time, that it could happen, but you never really believe it…" David said. "My mom always made me call her if I was going to be even five minutes late and I always had to tell her exactly where I was going. This lady makes me feel bad that I didn't always tell my mom."

They sobered at that.

**Dean sees a picture on a mirror edge and goes to take a look. "Peter Sweeney and Bill Carlton, 1970," he reads.**

"_That's _interesting," Brady pointed out. "I wonder what that means. Maybe he killed Peter and that's why Peter's going after his family?"

"I think you're on the right track," Cassandra smiled at him. "It makes sense."

**Bill is sitting outside on the dock again.**

"**Take everything. Everyone. I've got nothing left. I didn't understand. I didn't believe. Now I think I do. I think I finally know what you want."**

"Oh no, please tell me he doesn't do what I think he's going to do," Jess pleaded.

"I don't think I can," Lizzie said to her.

"**Okay, the little boy, Peter Sweeney vanishes and it is all connected to Bill Carlton somehow."**

"**Yeah, Bill as hell sure seems to be hiding something, huh?"**

"**And Bill, the people he loves, they're all being punished."**

"**So what if Bill did something to Peter?"**

"**What if Bill killed him?"**

"**Peter's spirit would be furious. It'd want revenge, it's possible."**

"Haha I got there before you," Brady bragged to the T.V.

"Oh, you're good," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

**They arrive at the Carlton's house.**

"**Mr. Carlton?" Sam calls. Dean notices a boat going out into the lake, Bill inside.**

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no," Jess repeated.

"**Hey, check it out." The two of them run out to the dock. They call for Bill to come back. Suddenly something comes up under the boat, flipping it. There is nothing left – no boat and no Bill.**

"That was sad," Jess finished.

"And expected," Lizzie said.

"And weird," Cassandra added.

"And suspicious," David supplemented

"So that should be it then, right? If Bill murdered Peter, then everyone should be safe now," Brady wondered.

"Why do I feel like you're wrong?" David asked.

"**Sweetie, what's wrong?" Andrea asks Lucas in the police station. He doesn't answer. Sam and Dean walk in with Devins.**

"**Sam, Dean, I didn't expect to see you here."**

"**So now you're on a first name basis," Devins observes. "What're you doing here?" he asks Andrea.**

"Someone's a little chilly," David teased.

"**I brought you dinner," she offers.**

"**Oh I'm sorry sweetheart, I don't really have the time." Lucas looks close to crying.**

"**I heard about Bill Carlton," Andrea says after looking at Sam and Dean. "Is it true? Is something going on with the lake?"**

**Devins glances at the brothers. "Right now we don't know what the truth is." Dean looks at Lucas. "But I think it might be better if you and Lucas went on home." Lucas looks terrified and runs to Dean, grabbing his arm and pulling, making distressing noises.**

"Well we know that Dean made a breakthrough, but isn't that rather odd?" Lizzie asked.

"So maybe this means that someone else is in trouble?" Jess guessed. "Lucas has been right about everything so far and he looks pretty terrified."

"But who else could it be besides Bill? There wasn't anyone else in the picture…" David reminded them.

"What about Devins? He's the only other person we know besides the old lady, and so far it's all been people we've seen," Brady reasoned.

"It's always the sheriff anyway," Cassandra told them.

Mary laughed – they could've been hunters with the way they were thinking. They were thinking things through and actually seemed to be enjoying it – like puzzles. If it was nothing more than a T.V. show she knew they would all be fans of it. As it was, it was a lot harder to enjoy it when it was about people you knew who could actually get hurt, and those who did die, really did… die.

"**Lucas, hey, what is it?" Dean asks, concerned.**

**Andrea tries to pull Lucas away. "Lucas, it's okay, it's okay," Dean tries to assure him. "Lucas, it's okay." Andrea guides him out and takes him home. Dean stares after them.**

**Devins goes into his office and eventually the boys follow.**

"**So, just so we're clear, you see something attack Bill's boat. Sending Bill, who is a very good swimmer by the way, into the drink, and you never see him again.**

"**Yeah," Dean looks at Sam and back at Devins. "That about sums it up." Sam is nodding his head from his place beside Dean.**

"I'm hoping they realize how crazy they sound," Jess said. "If they said that to me, I'd think they were hallucinating."

"**And I'm supposed to believe this? Even though I've already sonar-swept that entire lake and what you're describing is impossible. And you're not really Wildlife Service." Dean looks offended. "That's right, I checked. The Department's never heard of you two."**

"Now?!" David yelled, offended.

"Yes!" Lizzie shouted, celebrating.

"It could be the end!" Brady protested.

"No way! They haven't even caught the ghost or gotten rid of it yet! I so win! Nananananana."

"**See? Now we can explain that –"**

"**Enough," Devins cuts off Dean. "Please. The only reason you're breathing free air, is one of Bill's neighbours saw him steering out that boat just before you did. So, we have a couple of options here. I can arrest you for impersonating government officials and hold you as material witnesses to Bill Carlton's disappearance. Or, we can chalk this all up to a bad day. You get into your car, you put this town in your rear view mirror and you don't ever darken my doorstep again," Devins says angrily.**

"He got up on the wrong side of the bed," David joked.

"Or someone else he knows just died," Cassandra pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"**Door number two sounds good," Sam chooses calmly. Dean shrugs.**

"**That's the one I'd pick," Devins agrees.**

"Good. Get back on his good side," Brady told the T.V.

"Uh, I don't think that's going to happen," Jess said.

**Lucas is drawing swirls again when he's supposed to be asleep. Andrea finds him and asks him what he's doing up. He doesn't answer of course, and she puts him in bed. **

"I knew Andrea would be next!" Cassandra boasted.

"We all knew Andrea would be a victim," Brady replied. "You just didn't think of Bill."

"What about Lucas? It could be Lucas," Lizzie suggested.

"No way," Brady replied. "Lucas is in his room – no water. But Andrea looks like she's going to have a bath."

"And Sam and Dean are leaving," Jess murmured. "They're not going to be able to save her."

**Meanwhile, Sam and Dean are about to leave, but Dean has a bad feeling and they turn around.**

"Good," Jess breathed. They weren't in the clear yet though.

**Andrea starts running bath water, putting the plug in the drain first.**

**Sam is arguing that the job is over – if Bill killed Peter, then Peter has his revenge. Dean thinks that there's something wrong based on the way Lucas was acting. He wants to stay and make sure everything's okay. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" Sam asks.**

**Andrea gets into the tub and everything seems fine. She leans her head back, eyes closed, and doesn't notice the water turning muddy until it's the whole tub. She tries to get out and screams as she's pulled back in. There is a voice saying 'Play with me'. Lucas is knocking at the door for her to let him in.**

"That's the creepiest one yet!" Lizzie said, gasping.

"Play with me? What?" David repeated.

"Well if it's a kid I guess it would make sense?" Jess offered.

**Dean and Sam arrive at the house and wonder if they should open the door.**

"Oh my God, stop debating and go in and save her!" Jess yelled.

**Lucas yanks it open, trembling and terrified. He leads them upstairs to the bathroom. Dean kicks the door in, and Sam rushes past. Dean comforts Lucas while Sam fights to pull Andrea out of the water. **

"Okay, that thing is strong. Sam could even take me on in an arm wrestling contest," David admitted. "He's built."

"Most spirits are very strong, and they've had a long time to build up that strength to get revenge," Mary said.

**Eventually Sam wins, he and Andrea falling to the floor.**

"Score!" David jeered.

Jess hit him in the back of the head.

"**Can you tell me?" Sam asks Andrea. The sun is coming up and she is dressed in a robe.**

"**No."**

**Dean is going through files and books.**

"**It doesn't make any sense," Andrea gets out. "I'm going crazy." She puts her head in her hands.**

"**No, you're not," Sam assures her. "Tell me what happened. Everything." She tells him about the voice.**

**Dean finds a book labelled 'Jake'. Devins' first name. He takes the book to Andrea and asks if she recognizes any of the people in one of the pictures. Dean and Sam realize the connection wasn't just to Bill – it's to Bill and the sheriff. They were both involved with Peter's death.**

"I knew it!" Brady crowed.

"Yeah!" Cassandra and Brady high fived.

**Lucas' attention is drawn outside. "Lucas?" Dean calls. "Lucas, what is it?" Lucas goes outside without answer. He walks to a spot and looks down. Dean tells him to go back to the house and stay there. Andrea walks him there and the boys start digging. They find Peter's bicycle.**

"How does he know all this stuff?" Lizzie asked, looking around.

"Maybe it's that psychic thing that Sam mentioned earlier?" Jess suggested.

"Maybe…" Lizzie didn't seem convinced – none of them did to be honest.

Mary found herself wondering if he was one of the special children – if he was having visions or flashbacks of everything that had happened. Sam hadn't seen him, but that didn't mean he wasn't in the town before Sam was, when neither he nor she would have seen him.

"**Peter's bike," Sam observes.**

"**Who the hell are you?" Jake Devins asks from behind, cocking his gun.**

"Oh snap," David whistled.

"They're in a bit of a pickle. Especially since they found out about him and Peter," Brady figured.

**The brothers turn around, startled. "Put the gun down, Jake," Sam asks.**

"**How did you know that was there?"**

"**What happened? You and Bill killed Peter? Drowned him in the lake and then buried the bike? You can't bury the truth, Jake," Dean tells him. "Nothing stays buried."**

"Talking like that's going to get them killed," Cassandra stated.

"I feel like that's not going to stop them," Jess said worriedly.

**Andrea sees the group from the window and decides to intercept. She tells Lucas to stay in his room.**

"He's probably terrified and she's going to leave him there," Jess sighed.

"She doesn't want him in the middle of a fight, especially since her dad's holding a gun," Cassandra reasoned.

"I know. It's just that I feel like something bad's going to happen. I mean, he knew about everything else and I can't help feeling like that's a bad sign," Jess confessed.

"**I don't know what the hell you're talking about," Jake tells the boys. **

"**You and Bill killed Peter Sweeney thirty-five years ago. That's what the hell we're talking about."**

"**Dad!" Andrea calls out, running up.**

"**And now you've got one seriously pissed off spirit," Dean continues. They all ignore Andrea.**

"**It's gonna take Andra," Sam takes over. "Lucas, everyone you love. It's gonna drown them and it's gonna drag their bodies God knows where, so you can feel the same pain Peter's mom felt. And then, after that, it's gonna take you. And it's not gonna stop until it does." **

"I thought it just wanted to play," Brady tried joking. He only got weak smiles for his effort.

"**Yeah? And how do you know that?"**

"**Because that's exactly what it did to Bill Carlton."**

"**Listen to yourself. Both of you, you're insane."**

"If they just randomly said that to me, I'd think so too," Brady said. "It's not easy finding out about this part of the world." The others nodded in agreement.

"**I don't really give a rat's ass what you think of us," Dean says. "But if we're gonna bring down this spirit, we need to find the remains, salt them, and burn them into dust. Now tell me you buried Peter somewhere, tell me you didn't just let him go in the lake." Dean is uptight, frustrated.**

"So how do they get rid of the ghost then?" David asked. They'd have to go through the whole lake and they don't have time for that."

"Is there another way?" Jess turned to Mary.

"They could find the ghost's weak spot and that would destroy him, although I'm not sure what it would be in this case. Or they can give it what it wants."

The group shivered. What it wanted was to kill an entire family for what two stupid bullies had done.

**Lucas is watching from the window.**

**Andrea asks her father if it's true, and he tells her they're lying. She tells him something tried to drown her, and reminds him that her husband died on the lake. He can't deny it anymore.**

"**Billy and I were at the lake. Peter was the smallest one, we always bullied him. But this time, it got rough. We were holding his head under the water. We didn't mean to, but we held him under too long, and he drowned. We let the body go, and it sank," Jake Devins' confessed. "Oh Andrea, we didn't mean to. We were kids. We were scared, it was a mistake, but Andrea, to say that I had anything to do with these drowning's, with Chris because of some ghost? It's not rational."**

"Being a kid doesn't mean you can get away with murder!" Cassandra said angrily. "I knew it was wrong to bully someone when I was growing up! And it's even worse to murder someone! You don't just hold a person's head under water! And they had to be doing it for a long time after he stopped thrashing too!" She was absolutely fuming – they all were.

"**All right, listen to me," Dean orders. "All of you. We need to get you away from this lake, as far as we can, right now." Andrea looks over and gasps as she sees Lucas by the water. He reaches in.**

"Oh my God," Lizzie gasped, her hand going to her mouth.

"Why did he even go over there!" Jess moaned.

"**Lucas!" Jake yells. They all rush towards the lake, calling his name, trying to call him away from the water. A hand reaches up and pulls him in.**

"Oh no, oh no, oh no."

**Sam and Dean keep running. Jake stops and stares when Peter's head comes up out of the water and he looks at him. **

"Don't just stand there! Do something useful!" Lizzie screamed.

**The brothers immediately dive into the lake. Sam tells Andrea to stay where she is on the dock, assuring her that they will find him. They have no luck and dive back in.**

"Please, oh please, oh please, oh please."

**Jake walks into the water, pleading with Peter to take him and let Lucas go. Peter pulls him under. Sam and Dean dive back in. Sam surfaces and shakes his head. Andrea screams for Lucas. When Dean surfaces, he's holding Lucas in his arms.**

"Thank God, oh my God," Jess kept saying.

Even the boys were pale from that episode. It had been so close.

They took a few minutes to get their breathing back to normal.

**The brothers are walking to the Impala, ready to leave. **

"**Look, we're not going to save everybody," Sam tells Dean.**

"**I know," Dean replies.**

"That's so depressing. Knowing that whatever you do, however many people you save, you still can't save everyone," Cassandra observed.

"**Sam! Dean!" Andrea calls them. She and Lucas walk up, Lucas carrying a plate with food. "I'm glad we caught you. We just um, we just made you lunch for the road. Lucas insisted on making the sandwiches himself."**

"**Can I give it to them now?" Lucas asks his mother.**

"He talked!" the girls squealed at the same time.

Brady and David cheered.

**Sam and Dean smile at each other.**

"**Of course," Andrea kisses his head.**

"**Come on Lucas, let's load this into the car," Dean takes the plate from him and goes to the car with Lucas. Andrea and Sam watch them go.**

"**How are you holding up?" Sam asks Andrea.**

"**It's just going to take a long time to sort through everything, you know?"**

"**Andrea, I'm sorry."**

"**You saved my son," she says with a smile. "I can't ask for more than that. Dad loved me, he loved Lucas. No matter what he did, I just have to hold on to that."**

"She's being very strong about the whole thing," Brady said thoughtfully. "I hope she's not just avoiding it. If she is, it'll all come crashing down on her one day."

"**All right, if you're going to be talking now, there's a very important phrase, I want you to repeat it back to me one more time," Dean tells Lucas.**

"**Zeppelin rules!" Lucas says enthusiastically.**

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Mary laughed. She had forgotten about that.

"**That's right. Up high," Dean raises his hand for a high five. Lucas gives him one, grinning.**

"**You take care of your mom, okay?"**

**Sam and Andrea approach the two. Andrea leans over to kiss Dean.**

"**Thank you."**

"**Sam, move your ass," Dean says, turning awkwardly and walking around the car. He looks pleased though. "We're gonna run out of daylight before we hit the road."**

**Andrea and Lucas wave goodbye and watch as they drive off.**

"That was really intense," Lizzie breathed. "I'm kind of glad it's over."

"Me too. It was great seeing Sam and Dean get along like that, but geeze," Jess agreed. "I hope we get to see more of their relationship though. It's really great! And Sam's so different with Dean."

They continued to talk about what they had seen so far, and Mary just watched them and thought about what she had learned about _them_ so far.

Jess really was a sweet girl, Mary decided. Sam was lucky to have known her. She was compassionate and generally happy. And she definitely loved Sam. She was hurt by what he hadn't told her, but Mary knew from seeing her here that if Sam had told her (and given her proof), then she would have stayed with him, given him her support. And the others were good people too – they seemed to genuinely care for Sam, despite being possessed for much of the time they had known him. It was interesting, watching all of them interact. They hadn't all been close in college, but they were united now, and they wore the friendship well. Mary was content – Sam had met good people. She was eager to know more about them.

Eventually conversation died down and they turned back to the T.V. keen to see what had happened next.


	5. Phantom Traveler

**A/N: Now is when posting begins to get tricky. The end of the semester, there is a lot of school work to do and then added assignments on top of regular course work. So updates might be a little stringy until after exam time, but I won't forget, don't worry!**

**On another note – I hope everyone had as great an adventure on Hallowe'en as Charlie is you-know-where!**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own this wonderful show. Although I do own Lizzie, David, and Cassandra!**

* * *

**Airport:**

**There is a tropical background – it seems nice and relaxing.**

"Uh. Is anyone else really confused?" David asked.

"A little," Lizzie agreed.

The fact that it was a really calm setting made them nervous – what was going on? As the view opened up and they saw that it was only a backdrop there was a collective sigh of relief and excitement.

**A nervous man in a suit checks his ticket and goes into the bathroom.**

"**Thank you for flying United Britannia Airlines" the intercom says.**

"**Nervous flier?" another man asks.**

"**That obvious, huh?"**

"**You know, what are the odds of dying in a plane crash? I mean, what? Twenty thousand to one?" With that bit of advice, he leaves.**

"**Wow. That's uh, really reassuring. Thank you."**

"I'm glad he's not telling _me_ that," Cassandra shuddered.

**A cloud of black smoke comes through the vent and wanders down towards the man. He sees it and stares. It goes into his eyes.**

"Oh my gawd," Lizzie gasped. All of the previously possessed went pale.

"What is it?" Jess asked, her heart pounding. By their expressions, she felt she already knew the answer though. And that cloud had been too sinister to be anything other than –.

The group turned to Mary for validation.

"A demon possession," she confirmed. "You're about to see yet another demon doing its dirty work. This time though, it's not directed at any of you, or the boys."

"But they're still there! It can get them!" Jess started to panic.

"Not all demons are on the same page. There are so many of them – some just like to wreak havoc and make a mess of things," Mary reassured them. "It can still kill them, yes, but that's not the intention here, I think. We'll have to see what happens." Mary had already seen this, but she didn't want to give it away.

**On the plane, a flight attendant is checking tickets and directing passengers. The man from earlier enters and the attendant wishes him a nice flight. He turns and his eyes are completely black. The attendant shakes it off as a hallucination as he goes to his seat – 20C.**

**After forty minutes are up, the man gets up and goes to the back of the plane. Another passenger yells to him as he opens the door and goes flying out, ripping half a wing off too. The plane goes down and the oxygen masks deploy.**

"I can see what you mean by wreak havoc," Cassandra shivered. "Those poor people."

"I hope they make it out okay," Jess put a hand to her mouth in horror.

**There is a rustling sound and a door being unlocked. **

Everyone tensed. Dean was capable of handling himself, but he was apparently sleeping and Sam hadn't been shown yet.

**Dean is seen sleeping, but as the noise starts he shifts. The door opens, and there is a shape in the doorway. He reaches under his pillow, and Sam steps around the corner holding two cups of coffee and probably breakfast.**

"**Good morning, sunshine."**

"Oh my gawd Samuel, don't you ever scare me like that again!" Jess shrieked.

The others were relieved it was just Sam, and David even chuckled at Sam's greeting.

**Dean groans. "What time is it?" he asks sleepily.**

"**Oh it's about five forty-five."**

"Ugh. I'd probably shoot myself if I was awake that early. And if someone woke me up, I'd shoot _them_," Lizzie glared vehemently.

"I believe it too," David shuddered. "I half woke you up after a party once and you smoked me in the face. You went right back to sleep after."

"I don't remember that."

"I do."

Lizzie smirked at him.

"**In the morning?"**

"**Yeah."**

"**Where does the day go?" Dean rolls over to face Sam. "Did you get any sleep last night?" **

"Well he's taking it calmly," Brady observed. "Better manners than you," he directed at Lizzie. She stuck her tongue out at him while everyone else laughed.

"**Yeah, I grabbed a couple hours."**

"**Liar," Dean accuses. "Cause when I was up at three, you were watching the George Foreman infomercial."**

"I think I'd rather lie in the dark than watch T.V. after midnight. There's never anything on," David complained.

"**What can I say? It's riveting T.V."**

"Liar," Jess accused. "He absolutely hates them." Her voice softened. "If he felt he did something wrong and couldn't sleep, he'd make himself watch them." She hoped that whatever he thought he had done wrong, he was shaken out of it. As far as she could tell even from watching what they had so far, he was a hero.

"**When's the last time you got a good night's sleep?"**

"**I dunno. A little while I guess? It's not a big deal."**

"**Yeah it is."**

"He doesn't like it when people worry over him," Jess interrupted again.

"He's always too busy looking out for everyone else," Cassandra agreed.

"**Look, I appreciate the concern –"**

"**Oh, I'm not concerned about you. It's your job to keep my ass alive, so I need you sharp." Sam nods. **

Jess laughed, surprised. Dean had managed to handle playing off the concern well. As an afterthought she realized that surprise shouldn't have been there. Dean knew Sam better than anyone, she was finding out.

**It's true, he can't argue. "Seriously. You still having nightmares about Jess?"**

**Sam walks over to the other bed, sighing, and sits across from Dean.**

"**Yeah." **

Jess had conflicting emotions over hearing that. On one hand, she didn't want Sam to suffer. He needed to be happy and not worry about what had happened. On the other hand, she was pleased that Sam hadn't forgotten about her and that he was still thinking about her. She thought he loved her, but watching this she sometimes wondered if he did or if he loved the normalcy of their relationship.

**Sam hands Dean one of the cups. "But it's not just her, it's everything. I just forgot, you know, this job, man it gets to you."**

"I forgot that he was really doing it," Cassandra spoke up softly. "Just watching it here, it seemed like a story – some random T.V. show. But Sam and Dean are really out there doing this stuff and people are really dying. It's not just some horror show."

"It seems really cool," David agreed, "But seeing how much it's affecting Sam is kind of… disturbing. It doesn't seem real, but it seems even more real, ya know?"

"I don't know about the rest of you, but even when I was possessed it didn't seem real. I couldn't control anything, only watch. Sometimes I wondered if I was already dead," Brady stated. "I couldn't believe what was happening, what I was doing."

"**Well you can't let it, you can't bring it home like that."**

"So how is Dean dealing with it?" Jess wondered.

"**So, what? All this, it never keeps you up at night?" Dean shrugs. **

Jess raised an eyebrow.

"Do most hunters deal like that?" Cassandra asked Mary.

"Some. Some resort to other means. Most hunters are in it for revenge of a loved one. Those are the ones who spend most of their time finding creatures and killing them. There are some families who make it 'the family business' though and it's passed on through generations. They are a huge source of information because it's not just about finding _the_ monster; it's about doing as much as possible for the greater good."

"**Never? You're never afraid?"**

"**No, not really."**

**Sam laughs and reaches forward, pulling a knife out from under Dean's pillow. He holds it up as evidence.**

"He got you!" David crowed.

**Dean makes a face before taking it back. "That's not fear. That is precaution."**

"Liar," Lizzie laughed.

"He could have a point, after what they've been through," Brady cautioned.

"**All right, whatever. I'm too tired to argue."**

"It's the end of the world as we know it," David sang. As much as David was joking around, he was nervous that Sam and Dean were about to face a demon, and he knew the others were the same.

**Dean's phone rings and he stares at the number before answering.**

"**Dean. It's uh, it's Jerry Panowski." Dean gives Sam an odd look, no sign of recognition. "You and your dad helped me out a couple years back."**

**Realization comes to Dean. "Oh, right, yeah, up in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, the poltergeist thing. It's not back, is it?" Dean asks, concerned.**

"**No, no. Thank God, no. But it's something else, and uh, well I think it could be a lot worse."**

"It is," Brady agreed, serious.

"**What is it?"**

"**Can we talk in person?"**

"**Thanks for making the trip so quick," Jerry says, leading Sam and Dean through the hanger. "I ought to be doing you guys a favour, not the other way around. Dean and your dad really helped me out," he says the last part to Sam.**

"**Yeah, he told me. It was a poltergeist?"**

**A man in the background thinks they're talking about the movie. "Nobody's talking to you – keep walking. Damn right it was a poltergeist. Practically tore our house apart. Tell you something, if it wasn't for you and your dad, I probably wouldn't be alive."**

**Dean looks at Sam, smug.**

"**Your dad said you were off at college, that right?" Jerry asks Sam.**

"**Yeah I was, um, taking some time off."**

"**You know, he was real proud of you, I could tell. He talked about you all the time."**

"Woah," Lizzie was surprised. She didn't talk about her family and she was fairly certain they didn't talk about her. And didn't Sam say that his dad had told him to never come back? That they weren't the 'Brady's'? She was suddenly jealous that even though Sam had been kicked out, his dad still cared about him enough to talk about him, and to let other people know he was proud of him.

Jess was fuming. John was so two-faced! From what she could tell, he hadn't been close with either of his sons. He hadn't shown them the love and kindness that he should have. He hadn't been there for them, instead focusing on revenge. He even told Sam to stay gone if he was going. And then he turns around and other people – _strangers_ – know that he's proud, but his own son _doesn't_?! That just wasn't right.

"**He did?"**

"**Yeah, you bet he did." Jerry turns to Dean. "Hey, I tried to get a hold of him but I couldn't. How's he doing anyway?"**

**Dean exchanges a look with Sam. "He's um, wrapped up in a job right now."**

"I guess he didn't want Jerry to worry about the fact that a hunter like him was taken down," David guessed.

Brady nodded. "From what I vaguely remember, John was pretty high up in the community." The other demons had been given orders, but they didn't have the kind of clearance Brady's demon had. He knew things the others didn't.

"People who come into contact with hunters either respect all hunters, but particularly the one who saved them, or they hate all of them for making them aware of what's out there," Mary clarified. "So Jerry is going to want John, and Dean because he was a part of what happened, to be there to help him now. While he'll respect other hunters, he won't ask them for help like he will Dean and John."

"**Well, we're missing the old man, we get Sam. Even trade, huh?" Jerry and Dean laugh while Sam just smiles and looks away.**

"**Nah, not by a long shot," Sam disagrees.**

"He still thinks so well of his father too," Lizzie said wonderingly. What had happened to her family?

Jess let out a sound that was somewhere between a snort and a huff.

Mary just wished that she could make Jess understand, could make her see things from _John's_ point of view.

"**I've got something I want you guys to hear," Jerry walks ahead.**

"**Okay, I listened to this," he tells them once they're in his office, "And, well it sounded like it was up your alley." He puts a CD in a drive. "Normally I wouldn't have access to this. It's the cockpit voice recorder for United Britannia flight 2485. It was one of ours." The recording starts. Dean and Sam listen intently.**

'_**Mayday! Mayday! Repeat! 2485 – immediate instruction… may be experiencing some mechanical failure…**__**Wooshing sound**_**'**

"**Took off from here," Jerry tells them, "crashed about two hundred miles south. Now, they're saying mechanical failure. Cabin depressurized somehow. Nobody knows why. Over a hundred people on board. Only seven got out alive."**

"Christ," Cassandra murmured. The others were in stunned silence. They knew it was bad, but _seven_ out of a _hundred_.

"When demons want to cause chaos, they certainly know how," Mary said sadly. She wished there was a way to put all demons back where they belonged for good.

"**Pilot was one. His name is Chuck Lambert. He's a good friend of mine. Chuck is, uh, well, he's pretty broken up about it. Like it was his fault."**

"**You don't think it was?" Sam asked.**

"**No, I don't," Jerry says with confidence.**

"**Jerry, we're gonna need passenger manifests, um, a list of survivors…"**

"**Right, and, uh, any way we can take a look at the wreckage?" Dean asks.**

"**The other stuff is no problem. But the wreckage… fellas, the NTSB has it locked down in an evidence warehouse. No way I've got that kind of clearance."**

**Dean frowns. "No problem."**

"Why does that worry me?" Lizzie asked.

"Probably because it should?" David responded.

**Dean comes out of 'Copy Jacks', holding a couple of new cards.**

"**You've been in there forever," Sam says from his position against the car.**

"**You can't rush perfection," Dean argues, holding up the cards.**

"**Homeland Security?" Sam asks him in disbelief. He takes one of the cards. "That's pretty illegal, even for us."**

"Okay, there is _no friggen way_ they can pull of Homeland Security. That is some pretty high up stuff," David argued.

"I bet they'll make it," Brady said. They had to at some point right? So why not when they're doing the worst one yet?

"Okay. I bet it's immediate. There is just _no way_."

"I bet real Homeland Security shows up just after they do," Lizzie interjected. Mary fought to stifle a laugh, glad that David had snorted at the same time. Only Jess and Cassandra had noticed her put her hand to her mouth.

"Oh, you guys are _on_."

"**Yeah, well, it's something new. You know? People haven't seen it a thousand times." They get in the Impala. "All right, so what've you got?"**

"**Well, there's definitely EVP on the cockpit voice recorder."**

"**Yeah?" **

"**Listen," Sam plays a cleaner copy.**

'_**No survivors**_**'.**

**Dean raises his eyebrows. "No survivors? What's that supposed to mean? There were seven survivors." Sam shakes his head.**

"What if there weren't supposed to be any? I mean, a demon just wants to cause as much death and destruction as possible without alerting hunters, right? So besides wanting to kill everyone just for fun, they wouldn't want to leave witnesses either," Brady reasoned.

"I like it," Cassandra agreed. "So what's next? It's going to go after the survivors maybe?"

"I guess so."

"**Got me."**

"**So what're you thinking? A haunted flight?"**

"**There's a long history of spirits and death omens on planes, and ships, like phantom travellers. Or uh, or remember flight 401?"**

"**Right, the one that crashed and the airline salvaged some of its parts, put them in other planes, and then the spirits of the pilot and co-pilot haunted those flights."**

"That's what happened?!" Jess asked, shocked.

"You'll find that a lot of these 'random' or 'natural' events are actually caused by the paranormal. Some hunters actually bet on what people will blame these disasters on."

"**Right.**

"**Yep."**

"**Maybe we got a similar deal?"**

"**All right, so, survivors. Which one do you want to talk to first?"**

"**Third on the list, Max Jaffey."**

"Well that was easy." Lizzie blinked.

"**Why him?"**

"**Well, for one, he's from around here. And two, if anyone saw anything weird, he did."**

"What is he, psychic?" Jess laughed. "How does he even know that?"

Brady gulped, and Mary bit her lip. Each of there were determined not to say anything.

**Dean looks at Sam. "What makes you say that?"**

"**Well, I spoke to his mother. And she told me where to find him."**

**The boys visit him at the 'Riverfront Psychiatric Hospital'.**

"Oh," the group said in varying tones.

"**I don't understand. I already spoke with Homeland Security."**

"**Right," Dean says. "Some new information has come up, so if you can just answer a couple of questions…"**

"**Just before the plane went down, did you notice anything… unusual?"**

**Max shakes his head. "Like what?"**

"**Strange lights, uh weird noises, maybe. Voices," Dean supplies.**

"**No, nothing." They sit down.**

"**Hm. Mr. Joffey –"**

"**Jaffey."**

"**Jaffey," Dean corrects himself, "you checked yourself in here, right?"**

**Max nods.**

"**Can I ask why?"**

"Oh, you know. No reason. Just a change of scenery. Oh wait, I was in a plane crash where a black eyed bitch crashed us and there were only _seven survivors_!" Lizzie said sarcastically, her voice rising at the end.

David looked warily at her.

"**I was a little stressed. I survived a plane crash."**

"**Uh huh," Dean doesn't believe him. "And that's what terrified you. That's what you were afraid of?"**

"**I – I don't want to talk about this anymore."**

"**See, I think maybe you did see something up there," Dean pushes. "We need to know what."**

"**No. No, I was delusional. Seeing things."**

"**Seeing things," Dean repeats to Sam. Sam nods back towards Max. Dean looks away, frustrated.**

"**It's okay," Sam takes over. "You can tell us just what you**_** thought **_**you saw. Please?"**

**Max contemplates for a moment before resigning himself.**

"Damn. I need to practice that look!" David threw his hands up. "I bet Sam could go up to you and just make you tell him your biggest, darkest secret with those eyes. He could convince you to do _anything_."

Jess laughed. "Pretty much."

"**There was this… man, and uh, he had these… eyes. These uh, black eyes. And I saw him, or I **_**thought **_**I saw him…"**

"**What?" Dean prompts.**

"**He opened the emergency exit." Dean raises his eyebrows in surprise. "But that's impossible, right? I mean, I looked it up. There's something like two tonnes of pressure on that door."**

**Dean thinks about it and kind of nods.**

"**This man, did he uh, seem to appear and disappear rapidly?" Sam asks. "He would look something like a mirage?"**

"**What are you, nuts?" Sam tilts his head, looking confused. "He was a passenger. He was sitting right in front of me."**

"Okay, so completely stupid then," Lizzie sighed.

"No," Mary reprimanded gently. "Normal. They don't want to see what's out there; they don't want to see the paranormal. You can't tell me that before all this happened, before you were possessed, that you would've seen a black eyed demon and thought something of it. You would've brushed it off as a hallucination too."

**Sam and Dean look at each other again.**

**Dean pulls the Impala up in front of a house.**

"**So here we are. George Phelps, seat 20C," Sam confirms.**

"**Hm. Man, I don't care how strong you are," Dean says as they get out of the car. "Even yoked up on PCP or something, no way you can open up an emergency door during a flight." They look at the house.**

"**Not if you're human." Sam says from his side of the car, turning to face Dean. "But maybe this guy George was something else. Some kind of creature, maybe, in human form?"**

"Uh, closer, but still way off the mark. How were they so good in the other hunts but not so much this one?" Cassandra asked.

"This was their first demon encounter. John never let them go on hunts if a demon was involved, never even imagined it. He didn't want them to deal with that. He did teach them some basics, but nothing major. So here, they're very unprepared. It's above and beyond what they've ever done. Especially without their father," Mary stated.

"**Does that look like a creature's lair to you?" Dean asks him.**

**Sam turns back to the house, which looks very ordinary.**

**Inside, Sam picks up a picture of the possessed passenger, George Phelps. "This is your late husband?" he asks gently.**

"**Yes, that was my George," Mrs. Phelps confirms.**

"**And you said he was a dentist?" Dean asks.**

"**He was headed to a convention in Denver," Mrs. Phelps replies. Dean looks at Sam. "Do you know that he was petrified to fly? For him to go like that…"**

"**How long were you married?"**

"**Thirteen years," Mrs. Phelps answers Sam with a smile through her tears.**

"**And all that time, did you ever notice anything strange about him? Anything out of the ordinary?"**

"**Well," Mrs. Phelps starts. Dean looks at her, attentive. "He had acid reflux, if that's what you mean?"**

"Yup, that's _exactly_ what they mean," Lizzie rolled her eyes.

**Dean and Sam share a look.**

"**I mean, it goes without saying, it just doesn't make any sense," Sam tells Dean as they walk back to the car.**

"**A middle aged dentist with ulcer's not exactly evil personified. You know, what we need to do is get inside the NTSB warehouse and check out the wreckage."**

"**Okay," Sam accepts. "But if we're gonna go that route, we better look the part."**

**Sam and Dean exit 'Mort's' wearing rental suits.**

Lizzie whistled appreciatively. "Why didn't you tell us Sam could dress up?" she accused Jess. "And damn, Dean."

"I'm with Liz for once," Cassandra spoke up, looking at Jess. "What happened to 'friends share'?"

Jess laughed. "I never saw him _that_ dressed up. And we saw him in that dream just before the second hunt wearing a suit." She couldn't deny that there was something different about this. Here he wasn't about to cry. Here, he was with his brother, focused on a task.

"Ugh," Lizzie just said.

"**Man, I look like one of the Blues Brothers," Dean gestures at his suit. Sam is pulling at his collar.**

"**No you don't. You look more like a seventh grader at his first dance."**

**Dean looks down at himself. "I hate this thing."**

"**Hey, you want into that warehouse or not?" Sam asks him. Dean just pulls at the suit.**

**The suits and badges work and they're soon looking at the wreckage.**

David let out a sound like a wounded dog.

"Just you and me then," Brady says to Lizzie.

"Oh, I know it's my time to shine, buddy."

**Dean pulls something out of his pocket and puts the headphones connected to it in his ears.**

"**What is that?"**

"**It's an EMF reader," Dean replies. "Reads electromagnetic frequencies."**

"**Yeah, I know what an EMF reader is, but why does that one look like a busted up Walkman?"**

"**Cause that's what I made it out of," Dean smirks, proud. "It's homemade." He holds it up.**

"That's actually… pretty impressive," Cassandra admits.

"**Yeah, I can see that."**

**Dean looks a little hurt and turns away to start scanning. **

"Well that was rude," Lizzie noted.

Everyone had to agree.

**Nothing is detected until he reaches the emergency door handle. Dean brings it to Sam's attention.**

**Dean runs his finger along it. "What is this stuff?"**

"**One way to find out," Sam scraps some of it off with a knife. Dean wipes whatever it is on Sam's suit.**

"Pleasant…" Cassandra sniffed.

**Two Homeland Security workers present their I.D.'s to the front desk. It's quickly realized that the others are imposters. They pull guns and run to the evidence room.**

"Hah!" Lizzie shouted. "I got it, I got it! That's twice in a row!"

"Okay, next time, we change things around," Brady decided.

"I'm with him. I'm not losing again," David added.

Cassandra and Jess just shook their heads while Mary tried to remember when they were discovered in their next case.

**Sam and Dean, who have what they need and heard them coming, have just stepped out the back door. The security team doesn't see the door close.**

"Wow. That was just plain dumb luck," Jess acknowledged.

**The brothers look cautiously around a corner and the alarm goes off as they start walking. Dean throws his jacket on the barb wire at the top of the fence and they jump it easily.**

"Did anyone else find that incredibly hot?" Lizzie asked.

"Yup."

"Definitely."

"We should really learn how to do that," David whispered to Brady who just rolled his eyes. Yes, that would be very helpful in their current situation.

"**Wow, these money suits really do come in handy," Dean says to Sam, holding up his jacket. They run for it.**

Jess rolled her eyes. It was a nice suit.

"**It's just like getting back on a horse," a co-pilot says to Chuck, the surviving pilot from the crash. "Only in this case, a little twin engine. Not even a horse, more like a pony. I'll be right there with you, too. Anytime you feel like you don't want the wheel, I'll take over." Chuck nods. "Look, Chuck, we don't have to do this today. I'm not trying to rush you."**

"**No, the waiting is worse," Chuck replies.**

"**Okay," the co-pilot says, looking over his shoulder. "They're filling up the tank. Then we go." He leaves.**

**Chuck takes a sip of coffee and a black cloud comes out of a vent and into Chuck's eyes.**

"So I was right," Brady nodded to himself. "It's going after the survivors."

"Yeah, yeah, good for you," David rolled his eyes.

"**Huh," Jerry is looking into a microscope. "This stuff is covered in sulphur."**

"That's weird," Cassandra said.

"Not really," Mary laughed. "Demons leave it behind. That's one of the signs hunters look for."

"I never even noticed," Lizzie said astounded.

"Me neither…" Brady added.

"**You sure?" Sam asks.**

"**Take a look for yourself." There is some yelling outside the office. "If you fellas will excuse me, I have an idiot to fire."**

David snickered at that.

**Dean looks in the microscope. "Hm. There aren't too many things that leave behind a sulphuric residue.**

"**Demonic possession?" Sam looks at Dean. Dean makes a face.**

"Finally!" Cassandra said, exasperated.

"**That would explain how a mortal man would have the strength to open up an emergency hatch."**

"**If the guy was possessed, it's possible."**

"**Yeah but this goes way beyond floating over a bed or barfing pea soup. I mean it's one thing to possess a person, but to use them to take down an entire airplane?"**

"**You ever heard of something like this before?"**

"**Never," Dean shakes his head.**

"Oh gawd, they really are going in blind," Cassandra started biting her nails again. "I mean, I know you said they were," she directed to Mary, "but I didn't think they really were. Not that I thought you were lying, but –"

"I understand," Mary laughed. "It is kind of unnerving."

"A little," Cassandra agreed.

"They're going to make it out though. They can't die," Jess said assuredly.

"What makes you say that?" Brady asked curiously. He knew vaguely about Dean going to Hell and Sam's death in the yellow eyed demon's game.

"They'd be here, with us, watching this. They'd be in Heaven if they died. They're heroes. They save lives. There's no way they wouldn't be here. And Mary would want to be with her sons." Jess looked at Mary for confirmation.

Mary found herself speechless. "I – uh – I – yes, of course. They would be here," she finally got out.

"There. See?" Jess smiled. "Nothing to worry about."

Brady and Mary glanced at each other, deciding to say nothing. They would figure everything out later, during Azazel's games.

**Chuck and the co-pilot get into the small plane. Chuck is no longer acting nervous.**

"**How're you feeling?" The co-pilot asks in the air.**

"**I feel great."**

"**You'll be back to flying jumbos before you know it."**

"**Hope so. How long have we been up?"**

"**Uh," the co-pilot checks his watch. "About forty minutes."**

"**Wow, time really does fly." Suddenly he points the plane down and his eyes go black.**

"**What are you doing?!" the co-pilot yells. Chuck knocks him out and they crash.**

"Poor Chuck," Cassandra shook her head.

"Yeah. Now he's just ground chuck," Lizzie laughed. Everyone looked at her, confused. "It's a meat joke. Like ground beef is made out of chuck? Come on guys, doesn't everyone know that?"

"No," David shook his head slowly. "They don't. You know the weirdest things."

"Yeah," Jess said slowly. Cassandra nodded while she, Brady, and Mary just stared at her.

**In the brother's motel room, there are piles of open books and pictures all over a wall. Sam is typing away on a laptop while Dean reads a book.**

"**So, every religion in every world culture has the concept of demons and demonic possession, right? I mean Christian, Native American, Hindu, you name it."**

"**Yeah, but none of them describe anything like this."**

"**Well, that's not exactly true," Sam debates. "You see, according to Japanese beliefs, certain demons are behind certain disasters, both natural and man-made. One causes earthquakes, another causes disease."**

"**And this one causes plane crashes?" Dean sounds skeptical.**

**Sam shrugs, unsure.**

"Ah, why not?" Brady said sarcastically.

"**All right, so, what?" Dean comes over to Sam. "We have a demon that's evolved with the times and found a way to ratchet up the body count?"**

"**Yeah. You know, who knows how many planes it's brought down before this one?" Dean snorts and turns away. "What?"**

"**I don't know, man. This isn't our normal gig. I mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. This is big. And I wish Dad was here." Dean scratches his head.**

"**Yeah, me too."**

Jess harrumphed.

**Dean's phone rings. "Hello?"**

"**Dean, it's Jerry."**

"About Chuck," Cassandra said sadly.

"**Oh, hey Jerry."**

"**My pilot friend, Chuck Lambert is dead." Dean looks at Sam, concerned.**

"**Jerry, I'm sorry, what happened?"**

"**He and his buddy went up in a small twin about an hour ago. The plane went down."**

"**Where'd this happen?"**

"**About sixty miles west of here, near Nazareth."**

"**I'll try to ignore the irony in that."**

"A little insensitive," Jess rolled her eyes. "Maybe a little too soon."

"Yeah, six seconds is a little soon," Mary agreed.

"That is kind of funny though," David admitted.

"**I'm sorry?"**

"**Nothing. Jerry, hang in there, all right? We'll catch up with you soon." Dean hangs up.**

"**Another crash?"**

"**Yeah. Let's go."**

"**Where?"**

"**Nazareth."**

**As they approach Nazareth, a huge cloud of black smoke is rising up.**

"Oohh. That does not look good," Lizzie noted.

"Oh, I thought it was a party," David quipped back.

"It is. Just not one I'd want to go to," Brady intercepted.

"**Sulphur?" Dean asks Jerry. He nods in confirmation. "Well, that's great," he says sarcastically. "All right, so that's two plane crashes involving Chuck Lambert," he says to Sam. "This demon sounds like it was after him."**

"**With all due respect to Chuck," Sam says to Jerry, "but um, if that's the case, that would be the good news."**

"Oh, good," Lizzie sighed.

"**What's the bad news?" Dean asks him.**

"**Chuck's plane went down exactly forty minutes in the flight. And, get this, so did flight 2485."**

"**Forty minutes. What does that mean?" Jerry asks, confused.**

"**It's biblical numerology. You know, Noah's Ark, it rained for forty days. The number means death," Dean explains.**

"**I went back and there have been six plane crashes over the last decade that all went down exactly forty minutes in."**

"**Any survivors?"**

"**No. Or not until now, at least. Not until flight 2485 for some reason." Dean nods. "On the cockpit voice recorder, what the EVP said."**

"**No survivors," Dean realizes. He licks his lips. "It's going after all the survivors. It's trying to finish the job."**

"I could've finished this hunt ages ago," Brady boasted easily.

"Oh shut up," Lizzie replied. "You're just cheating."

**Dean is driving while Sam speaks to someone on his cell. "Really? Well, thank you for taking our survey and if you do plan to fly, please don't forget your friends at United Britannia Airlines. Thanks." Sam flips his phone shut.**

"I would totally hire him to call people," Cassandra stared at the screen.

"I'd hire him to do –" Lizzie started.

"Hey!" Jess said, as Mary claimed that she didn't want to hear it.

"**All right, that takes care of Blaine Sanderson and Dennis Holloway. They're not flying anytime soon."**

"**So our only wildcard is the flight attendant, Amanda Walker."**

"**Right. Her sister, Karen, said her flight leaves Indianapolis at eight pm. It's her first night back on the job."**

David whistled. "That's going to be tough to make."

"**That sounds like just our luck."**

"**Dean, this is a five-hour drive, man, even with you behind the wheel."**

"**Why don't you call Amanda's cellphone again, see if we can't head her off at the pass."**

"**I already left her three voice messages. She must have turned her cellphone off. Gawd," Sam checks his watch. "We're never gonna make it."**

"**Oh, we'll make it," Dean is confident.**

**They make it to the airport and immediately check the Depatures.**

"**There," Sam points. "They board in thirty minutes."**

"Okay, if I wasn't already dead, I would never get into a car with Dean driving because he'd probably kill me," Lizzie stated. "How fast was he even driving?!"

"Pretty damn fast," Brady answered, astounded.

"**Okay, we still have some cards to play. We need to find a phone," Dean starts looking around. Finding one, he picks up the receiver. **

"**Airport Services."**

"**Hi, Gate thirteen," Dean answers.**

"**Who are you calling, sir?"**

"**We're trying to contact an Amanda Walker. She's a flight attendant on flight 424."**

"**Amanda Walker, Amanda Walker you have a phone call. White courtesy phone, Gate thirteen," the PA system announces.**

**Amanda approaches the gate. "Come on," Dean says, impatiently. She picks up the phone.**

"**This is Amanda Walker."**

"**Miss Walker? Hi, this is Doctor James Hetfield from St. Francis Memorial Hospital," Dean says. **

"Really?" Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I feel like this isn't going to work."

**Sam gives him a 'what the hell' gesture. "We have a Karen Walker here."**

"**Karen?"**

"**Nothing serious, just a minor car accident, but she was injured so –"**

"**Wait, wait, wait, that's impossible. I just got off the phone with her."**

"And that's why," Lizzie finished.

**Dean pauses. "You what?"**

"**Five minutes ago. She's at her house, cramming for a final. Who is this?"**

"**Um, well, must be some mistake." Sam is trying to get closer to the phone to hear what's going on. Dean turns away from him again.**

"**And how would you even know I was here? Is this one of Vince's friends?"**

"**Guilty as charged," Dean lies, taking the exit she offers.**

"How is he so friggen lucky?!" David cursed. "If I tried that, I'd be found out for sure!"

"**Wow, this is unbelievable."**

"**He's really… sorry," Dean replies, uncertainly.**

"Oh, I'm sure," Cassandra snorted.

"**Well you tell him to mind his own business, and stay out of my life. Okay?"**

"**Yes, but he really needs to see you tonight, so…?"**

"**No, I'm sorry. It's too late."**

"**Don't be like that. I mean, the guy's a mess. Really, it's pathetic."**

"What? How is he even –? You know, never mind," Jess decided.

"**Really?"**

"**Oh yeah."**

"**Look, I gotta go. Tell him to call me when I land." She hangs up the phone even as Dean protests. Black smoke comes out of a vent as Amanda walks through the gate.**

"Damn," Brady cursed. "So close."

"**Dammit," Dean is frustrated. "We were so close."**

"That was kind of weird," David looked at Brady.

"**All right, I think it's time for Plan B. We're getting on that plane."**

**Dean holds out his hand. "Just hold on a second."**

"**Dean, that plane is leaving with over a hundred passengers on board and if we're right –" Sam lowers his voice, "that plane is gonna crash."**

"**I know!"**

"**Okay, we get on that plane, we need to find that demon and exorcise it. I'll go get the tickets, you just go get whatever you can out of the trunk. Whatever will make it through security. Meet me back here in five minutes." Dean looks nervous. "Are you okay?"**

**Dean contemplates telling Sam. "No," he finally says. "Not really."**

"**What? What's wrong?"**

"**Well, I kind of have this problem with, uh," he makes a moving gesture with his hand.**

"No way. There's a demon on the plane, and the plane is going to crash and Dean has a problem with _flying_! Great, just great," Jess freaked.

"**Flying?"**

"**It's never really been an issue until now."**

"**You're joking, right?"**

"**Do I look like I'm joking? Why do you think I drive everywhere, Sam?"**

"**All right, uh, I'll go."**

"No. No way are you gonna do this on your own," Jess scolded.

"**What?"**

"**I'll do this one on my own."**

"**What are you, nuts? You said it yourself, the plane's gonna crash."**

"Good," Jess said, smiling. Of course Dean wouldn't let him go by himself. She was slowly learning that Dean would place Sam above everything else.

"**Look, Dean, we can do it together, or I can do this one by myself. I'm not seeing a third option here."**

"**Come on! Really? Man…"**

**On the plane, Sam looks calm while Dean is nervously looking at a program.**

"**Just try to relax," Sam advises.**

"**Just try to shut up," Dean replies. Sam laughs. Dean holds on as the plane picks up. His eyes go wide as the wheels go up. He's obviously trying not to panic.**

"**You humming Metallica?" Sam finally asks.**

"**It calms me down."**

"Interesting choice," Lizzie said, amused.

"I guess it depends on your mood," Mary shrugged. "I probably wouldn't listen to calm down though…"

"So, since he got his taste in music from you, maybe he's thinking of you when he thinks of the music, and that's really why it calms him down?" Cassandra suggested. "It's a connection to you."

"I never thought about that," Mary admitted. She felt her eyes start to burn with tears.

**Sam shakes his head. "Look man, I get you're nervous all right? But you gotta stay focused."**

**Dean nods. "Okay."**

"**I mean, we got thirty-two minutes and counting to track this thing down or whoever it's possessing anyway, and perform a full on exorcism."**

"**Yeah, in a crowded plane, that's gonna be easy."**

"Walk in the park," David agreed.

"**Just take it one step at a time, all right?" The boys look ahead. "Now, who is it possessing?"**

"**Well, it's usually gonna be somebody with some sort of weakness, you know? A chink in the armour that the demon can worm through. Somebody with an addiction, or some sort of emotional distress." Dean looks down the aisle to see a flight attendant.**

"Not always," Mary argued. "If the demon is powerful enough, it can just choose anyone. The fact that this demon had to target nervous people means that it's a lower level demon."

"**Well, this is Amanda's first flight after the crash. If I were her, I'd be pretty messed up." Dean hums in agreement.**

"**Excuse me," he asks the flight attendant. "Are you Amanda?"**

"**No, I'm not," she smiles.**

"**Oh, my mistake." She moves on. He looks back down the aisle and finds Amanda. "All right," he says to Sam. "That's gotta be Amanda back there," Sam looks back, "so I'll go talk to her and uh, I'll get a read on her mental state."**

"Oh, that's a great conversation. 'Hey Amanda, I was just wondering, since you were in the plane crash, and there's a demon on the loose trying to bring down this plane, I was just wondering if you were nervous or anything?'" Lizzie said sarcastically.

"**All right. What if she's already possessed?" Sam questions.**

"I've got it," David volunteered. "'So, Amanda, since you were one of the survivors on that crash the other day, I was just wondering if you were nervous and if you're now being possessed. If you're not Amanda, say 'I''."

"**There's ways to test that," Dean answers. He opens the duffle at his feet and pulls out a bottle of water. "I brought holy water." Sam grabs it from his hand and puts it in his sweater.**

The group laughed.

"That's not exactly inconspicuous," Brady offered.

"**No. I think we can go more subtle. If she's possessed, she'll flinch at the name of God."**

"**Oh, nice." Dean unbuckles his seatbelt.**

"**Hey," Sam calls him back.**

"**What?"**

"**Say it in Latin."**

"**I know."**

"**Hey!" Sam calls him back again.**

"**What?"**

"**Uh, in Latin, it's 'Christo'."**

"Does anyone feel like he didn't quite remember?" Brady asked.

"Or that Sam's kind of treating him like an idiot in this one?" Cassandra added cautiously.

"Yes to both," Mary decided. Dean was really brilliant in this hunt – sometimes he thought of himself as just a grunt, but a person could really see the brilliance behind that pretty face. Unfortunately, she had the idea that he probably had forgotten that little detail. Dean had grown a lot since they had separated, and Sam seemed to forget occasionally that Dean could do these hunts on his own, that he hadn't had backup all the time and that he had had to rely on himself.

"**Dude, I know, I'm not an idiot!" Sam watches as Dean makes his way to the back. The plane shudders and Dean stops for a moment, holding onto the seats.**

"**Hi," he greets Amanda, where she's stocking a trolley.**

"**Hi! Can I help you with something?"**

"**Oh, no, I'm just a bit of an uneasy flier. Makes me feel better to walk around a little bit."**

"**Oh, it happens to the best of us."**

"**Of course, you being a stewardess, I guess flying comes easily to you."**

**Amanda laughs. "Yeah, you'd be surprised."**

"**Really, you're a nervous flier?"**

"**Yeah, maybe. A little bit."**

"**How is it that being a stewardess, you're scared to fly?"**

"**Kind of a long story," she replies.**

"**All right, I'm sorry for asking."**

**She holds up her hand in an 'all right' gesture. "It's okay."**

"**You ever consider other employment?"**

"**No. Look, everybody's scared of something. I just, uh, I'm not going to let it hold me back."**

"**Huh." Dean pauses. Her mental state is obviously good. "Christo."**

**Amanda looks up, her eyes normal. "Sorry, did you say something?"**

**Dean looks sheepish, but tries it again. Nothing happens.**

"But it has to be on that plane," Cassandra said, confused. "She's the only survivor of the last crash that we know about who's on a plane right now and a potential target. The demon wouldn't just pass her up."

"It's gotta be another nervous passenger then," David spoke up. "Other passengers – like the first guy that we saw – are afraid to fly too. Not just the ones who were in crashes."

**Dean tells her not to worry and walks away. Sitting back beside Sam, he tells Sam that she's very well adjusted. Sam reveals that since it's not in Amanda it could be in anyone on the plane, anywhere.**

**After more turbulence, Dean finally snaps a little, "Oh come on, that can't be normal!"**

"**Hey, it's just a little turbulence."**

"**Sam," Dean turns panicked eyes on his brother. "This plane is going to crash okay, so quit treating me like I'm friggen' four."**

"He's got a point," Lizzie added.

"**You need to calm down."**

"**Well, I'm sorry I can't."**

"**Yes, you can."**

"**Dude, stow the touchy-feely, self-help yoga crap, it's not helping."**

"**Listen, if you're panicked, you're wide open to demonic possession, so you need to calm yourself down. Right now," Sam finally tells him.**

"So does Sam," Jess breathed in, eyes going wide. None of them had thought that it would possess Sam or Dean, but Sam had just reminded them that it was possible.

**Dean realizes he's right and breathes slowly. "Good. Now I found an exorcism in here that I think is gonna work. The Rituale Romanum."**

"**What do we have to do?"**

"**It's two parts. The first part expels the demon from the victim's body. It makes it manifest. Which actually makes it more powerful."**

A sarcastic, "oh good," followed that statement.

**Dean gives Sam a look. "More powerful?"**

"**Yeah."**

"**How?"**

"**Well it doesn't need to possess someone anymore. It can just wreak havoc on its own."**

"Fantastic."

"**Oh, yeah," Dean nods. "Why is that a good thing?"**

"**Well, because the second part sends the bastard back to hell for once and for all."**

"**First thing's first, we gotta find it."**

**Dean walks down the aisle with the EMF reader, getting odd looks, but no readings.**

"That would be kinda weird," David agreed with the passengers. "Here, let me just put this weird, Walkman thing up to you slowly and get a reading on you."

**Sam suddenly appears and claps him on the shoulder. He jumps.**

"**Ah, don't do that."**

"**Anything?"**

"**No, nothing. How much time we got?"**

"**Fifteen minutes. Maybe we missed somebody?"**

"Not much time to find out," Jess bit her lip.

"**Maybe the thing's just not on the plane?"**

"**You believe that?"**

"**Well, I will if you will." Sam gives him a disbelieving look.**

"Worth a try," Lizzie shrugged.

**The EMF reader spikes. The co-pilot exits the bathroom and moves towards the cockpit.**

"**What? What is it?" Sam asks Dean.**

"**Christo," Dean says in response.**

**The co-pilot turns to face them. His eyes are black. He goes into the cockpit and Dean looks at Sam.**

"Oh damn!" David yelled.

"It's going to be so hard to get him!" Cassandra fretted. "And in front of all those people, too."

**Sam and Dean head to the back to talk to Amanda. Sam knows she won't believe it, but they only have twelve minutes left. Sam closes the curtain to give them privacy to talk. They explain what they know about the previous flight – that she was on it, and that something that wasn't a mechanical failure brought down the plane. They need her help so it doesn't happen again. **

"Please believe them," Jess pleaded.

**She tries to leave and Dean stops her, pleading for her to listen. They inform her that Chuck died in another plane crash. Sam appeals to her senses – maybe she sensed something wrong. She tells them about George's eyes and they confirm that it was real. They ask her to bring the co-pilot back, to do whatever it takes, they just want to talk to him. She does it at the risk of losing her job – she believes them. Amanda and the co-pilot start walking back.**

"Okay, good. Now please let the exorcism work," Jess changed her plea. The other laughed slightly – everyone but Mary nervous about the boys getting out of this one unscathed.

**Sam pulls out the holy water and Dean hands their father's journal to Sam, who opens it. When the co-pilot walks in, Dean punches him hard enough to bring him down and puts duct tape over his mouth.**

"**Wait, what are you doing? You said you were just gonna talk to him?" she asks in horror.**

"**We are gonna talk to him," Dean splashes holy water on him and it sizzles. The co-pilot writhes.**

"**Oh my gawd. What's wrong with him?"**

"**Look, we need you calm. We need you outside the curtain," Sam suggests.**

"**Well, I don't underst – I don't know –"**

"**Don't let anybody in, okay? Can you do that? Can you do that? Amanda!"**

"Once again, just, wow. Sam really knows how to get to you," Lizzie said again.

"Are you going to say that every time it comes up?" David asked her.

"Eh, probably."

"**Okay, okay," she steps outside of the curtain.**

"**Hurry up, Sam. I don't know how much longer I can hold him."**

**Sam starts reading the exorcism. ****"Regna terrae, cantata Deo, psallite Domino –"**

**The demon breaks free and hits them both until Dean knocks him down again. Sam continues reading and the demon knocks Dean off and pulls the tape from his mouth. He grabs Sam. "I know what happened to your girlfriend! She must have died screaming! Even now, she's burning!"**

Jess stared at the screen.

"Oh my God," Lizzie gasped.

"That's – that's really weird," David burst out.

"It was really important, your death" Brady said to Jess. "Rumours spread like wildfire. Not all of them true."

"But why?" Jess asked.

"It'll be explained soon enough," Mary answered her. "And I'm sorry, sweetheart."

Jess smiled sadly at Mary. "You don't have anything to be sorry for."

Mary just wished that were true.

**Dean pulls himself up and hits the demon. Sam sits there, stunned.**

"**Sam!" Dean calls.**

**Sam recovers and begins reading again. He puts the book down to help Dean restrain him and the demon kicks the book down the aisle.**

"Wouldn't it have been better if he had just kept reading?" Cassandra asked tentatively breaking the silence. "Now they don't have the exorcism, and I'm pretty sure the demon is up for crashing the plane."

"Probably," David replied. "Sometimes I think Sam forgets what he should be doing – he focuses on the details and loses sight of the bigger picture."

"**I got him," Sam says. The demon leaves the body and disappears into a vent. "Where'd it go?"**

"**It's in the plane. Hurry up. We got to finish it."**

**The plane dips and heaves violently. Dean flattens himself against the exit door, screaming while Sam tries to reach the book. Finally grabbing it among the chaos, Sam reads the exorcism. An electrical charge runs through the plane, which then levels out.**

"Thank God that's over," Jess sighed in relief.

"That was terrifying," Lizzie agreed.

"Wasn't that a little too easy?" Brady asked.

"It was a lower level demon, don't forget," Mary reminded them.

"Ah, right."

**Amanda sighs in relief, Dean leaves the door Sam stands up.**

**At the airport, the passengers are herded into an area with uniformed agents to be checked over. The co-pilot and Amanda are being questioned. The co-pilot doesn't ever remember getting on the plane. Amanda sees the Winchesters and mouths 'Thank you'. They nod and turn away.**

"That was nice of her," Cassandra smiled.

"**Let's get outta here. You okay?" Dean asks Sam.**

**Sam turns to him. "Dean, it knew about Jessica." Dean looks unsettled for a moment.**

"**Sam, these things, they – they read minds. They lie. All right? That's all it was."**

"**Yeah," Sam doesn't sound like he believes him.**

"Don't worry Sam, I don't believe him either," David tried to assure him.

"**Come on," Dean leads him out.**

"**Nobody knows what you guys did, but I do. A lot of people could have been killed." Jerry shakes their hands. "Your dad's gonna be real proud."**

"I love it when people actually thank them for being heroes," Jess said. "With all the lies and the deaths that happen too, I guess it can be forgotten that they're saving a lot more."

"Same here," Cassandra agreed. "And they should get some recognition from all the good they're doing."

"**We'll see you around, Jerry," Sam says.**

"**You know, Jerry," Dean calls back.**

"**Yeah?"**

"**I meant to ask you. How did you get my cellphone number anyway? I've only had it for like, six months."**

"**Your dad gave it to me."**

There was a collective "What?!" from the group.

"**What?" Sam asked.**

"**When did you talk to him?" Dean asked next.**

"**I mean, I didn't exactly talk to him, but uh, I called his number. His voice message said to give you a call. Thanks again guys." Jerry leaves.**

"**This doesn't make any sense, man." Sam and Dean are sitting on the Impala outside of the hanger. "I've called Dad's number like fifty times. It's been out of service."**

"Wait, what?!"

**Dean dials John's number. When the voice message begins, he turns so Sam can hear it.**

'_**This is John Winchester. I can't be reached. If this is an emergency, call my son, Dean. 785-555-0179. He can help.**_**'**

**Sam is fuming as he gets in the car. Dean follows, looking upset, and they drive off.**

"So he can volunteer them for hunts but he can't even show up to tell them where he is?! And he won't give them a chance to get in touch with him, but he will random strangers?! What the hell?!" Jess was angry.

"That's not right," Cassandra agreed. "Why won't he at least tell them he's okay? Give them an idea of what's going on? Why did he have to leave?"

"He had his reasons," Mary defended him. "You'll see it later."

"You keep saying that," Jess accused, "but so far, we haven't seen much good that he's done."

"You don't know the whole story," Mary argued. "You have to know the whole story. He's doing what he can. I don't agree one hundred percent with what he's doing, but he think he's doing the right thing here. He's doing it for them." She pointed at the screen, indicating Sam and Dean.

"It's not right! They're alone, and they don't know what they're doing! They're trying to find their _father_ and he doesn't even _want to be found_. He's leading them on a goose chase! They're not going to give up! And he's destroying their lives!"

"It's not his fault!" Mary denied. "There are other powers at work here. Greater powers than that of one man. He's gone missing, but much of this would have happened _anyway_. Everything here is _years_ in the making. I can't explain it to you now – it's too much information all at once. There are things you need to understand first. You need to trust me. And you need to trust that John is trying to do what's best for those boys."

Jess and Mary stared at each other, willing the other to understand. Suddenly Jess broke into tears.

"I just don't want to see him hurting any more. Or Dean."

"I know, love, I know," Mary said, pulling her close. She rubbed Jess' back as she cried.

The others looked at Jess sympathetically. They knew she loved Sam, they knew that she just wanted him to be happy, so did they.

Finally Jess pulled away, wiping stray tears from her eyes. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down.

Mary put her hand under Jess' chin, lifting her head up. "You have nothing to be sorry for. I'd probably feel the same way if I was in your position. I know you love him. I know you want to see him safe and happy." Her eyes were soft. "This isn't going to be easy, watching their lives. I don't know if they're destined for a happy ending," she warned. "I just want you to at least know what they're doing, where they ended up, and why. I just want you to have some peace of mind, and to know that none of this was your doing. Any of you," she looked around the room. "All of this is so much bigger than any of us."

"Thank you," Jess said sincerely. "I really do appreciate it."

"And I think I speak for all of us when I say 'me too'," Brady added.

"Then let's continue," Mary suggested. "We have a long way to go, and I know you're all itching for answers."


End file.
